From Dust to Ashes
by The Ashen Lord
Summary: From the ashes of Gwyn's age came a new one, the age of Darkness. The Chosen Undead had become the Dark Lord to bring the cycle of the curse to an end. He built a kingdom from the ashes and new soul arts were discovered along with hexes. The Dark Lord would use these new arts to craft a path through space and time to find a new home for his kingdom. That new home would be Remnant.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! My name is The Ashen Lord and this is my first ever fan fiction story. I decided to write about a crossover between RWBY and Dark Souls (two of my favorite things in the world). This idea had been on my mind for a long time and I would have written it sooner, but since I am new to this site I was nervous about uploading it. Now that I have gotten over my nervousness I can finally write this story. I will continue the author's note at the end of the chapter. Now on to the story!**

* * *

 ** _Rise of the Dark Lord: Part I_**

"Magnificent. You have followed my teachings faithfully. You are the true lord of men… the Dark Lord. Now go forth and rid us of that enfeebled Gwyn. I Kaathe shall await you here. When you return I shall serve you in the immanent age of Dark." said the Darkstalker.

The chosen undead nodded his head to the Darkstalker to thank him for pointing the chosen undead in the right direction. Turning towards the Lordvessel the chosen undead walked up to it and kneeled before it, and proceeded to empty the Lord souls of the four great ones into the Lordvessel.

All of a sudden a large flame had erupted from the Lordvessel forcing the chosen to take a step back from the burning flame.

Then a creaking noise fell upon the chosen's ears as the doors leading to the Kiln opened slowly revealing a bright white light causing the chosen to shield his eyes to not go blind himself. Before departing for the Kiln the chosen turned to face the Primordial Serphant once more to thank him.

Walking past the Lordvessel the chosen looked down upon a large set of stairs that lead straight down to the Kiln of the First Flame. With walls made of pure white light surrounding either side of the stairway caused the chosen to take a moment to look at this strange phenomenon. Just as he was about to make his way down the stairs he saw something appearing out of the white light.

The being was as tall as the Silver Knights of Anor Londo, and the armor looked almost the exact same, but something was different. This being's armor was much more demonic looking than those of Anor Londo.

The wings that normally adored the head piece were instead demon like horns that ended in sharp points. Around the being's collar were two spikes on either side that produced from the armor itself. Also, the being had lacked the cape that most Silver Knights had. The chosen only knew of this for his time spent within the ranks of the Silver Knights themselves before being branded by the curse.

Since the being was transparent the chosen didn't recognize it at first, but after some time to observe it the chosen had identified it as one of the most dangerous enemies he had encountered multiple times, the Black Knight. Walking further down the steps the chosen had noticed more of the transparent Black Knights walking out of the light.

Each one carried both sword and shield. The chosen noticed that the sword each carried was none other than the powerful Black Knight sword that the chosen had made the unpleasant acquaintance with a few times on his journey.

None of the Black Knights paid any attention to the chosen as he passed by them. They had carried themselves like the ones that the chosen had met along his journey. The chosen clenched his teeth in anger at the thought of Gwyn sacrificing his own knights to the fire due to his own paranoia and fear.

"I will avenge all that you have sacrificed Gwyn and save the lost souls of this land." The chosen pledged to himself as he made his final steps and arrived at the Kiln of the First Flame.

The chosen stood there for a moment to gaze upon the Kiln and Gwyn's prison off in the distance. The chosen had to admit that they Kiln did look beautiful in a way. The way the Kiln had its own sky this deep underground the chosen would never know, but decided to think about it another time later.

The chosen forged on towards Gwyn's prison to end this once and for all. Soon memories of his past comrades that he had met throughout his journey flowed into his mind.

The first was Siegmeyer of Caterina, or those who had little respect for the knight knew him as the "Onion Knight." The chosen remembered his first time meeting the rather large knight. He was sitting just outside the gate leading into Sen's Fortress.

 _"_ _Mmm…mmm… Mm! Oh-hoh!_ _Forgive me… I was absorbed in thought._ _I am Siegmeyer of Catarina_ _._ _Quite honestly, I have run flat up against a wall._ _Or, a gate, I should say. The thing just won't budge._ _No matter how long I wait. And, oh, have I waited!"_ said Siegmeyer.

The chosen chuckled at the fond memory of his large but gentle friend. Soon the fond memory faded away and was replaced with another where he helped the knight in Blighttown. He remembered how he caught him sleeping and right in the middle of that poison pool of a town! Only Siegmeyer could pull something like that off.

 _"_ _Mm! Oh-hoh!_ _Excuse me. I was so absorbed in thought, I just drifted away._ _You see, I'm actually in a bit of a fix._ _I've made it this far, but I'm short on antidote moss for the trip back._ _…_ _By my knighthood, I am ashamed to ask…_ _But can you spare a few scraps of moss?"_ Siegmeyer asked.

The chosen was more than happy to help his fellow knight, and found it amusing that someone such as Siegmeyer was almost trumped by not having moss on him. Then suddenly one of the darker thoughts crossed the chosen's mind at the last time he would see his friend alive…

 _"…_ _Friend, I have an idea. A good one, really. I will ruse those dire fiends, and you can slip away in the confusion. Please, friend, I owe you much more than this. By the honor of the knights of Catarina, allow me to assist you. And now, I go! Don't be slow! Hrgrraaaaggh! Hiyaaaaaah! C'mon! Over here, you fiends! Perish, foul creatures! I am Siegmeyer of Catarina, and you shall feel my wrath!"_

The chosen now had regretted helping his companion for he had failed to see Siegmeyer's true purpose of "assisting" him. It was Siegmeyer's purpose to have an adventure that would test his strength and skill in Lordran. That purpose had kept him from hollowing and the chosen had taken it away from him. He then finished the memory of Siegmeyer's final words to him.

 _"_ _(Breathing heavily) But, you! Didn't you get away?_ _Well, you've saved me, once again…_ _Thank goodness… I'm exhausted…_ _I think I'll have a rest._ _Don't you worry, the ground below me is my pillow._ _I'll recover shortly…"_

After that the chosen had decided to head back to Firelink Shrine to gather up some supplies when he had met Siegmeyer's daughter, Sieglinde. She had asked the chosen if he had seen her father and the chosen answered that he had. The chosen had heard of a place called Ash Lake and decided to pillage the items there for his journey.

What came next had put a dark weight on his heart. There he saw Sieglinde standing over a dead Caterina knight. As the chosen had drawn closer he observed the Zweihander in the knight's hand. He took note that Sieglinde was crying and put two and two together…

 _"_ _My father…all Hollow now…has been subdued. He will cause no more trouble._ _It's finally over…I will return to Catarina._ _You assisted us both greatly. I can hardly return the favor,_ _but please accept this. It's of no use to me now._ _  
_ _Oh, father…dear father… (Soft sobs and crying)"_

The chosen could never forgive himself for the pain that he had caused not only to his fellow knight, but his daughter as well.

Off in the distance the chosen could see another Black Knight standing guard with another legendary weapon, the Black Knight Ultra greatsword. He quickly charged the hollowed warrior and managed to side step to his right as the Black Knight brought his greatsword down in an arc swing. Realizing that he had a few seconds to attack the chosen had pulled out his own Black Knight weapon, the Black Knight halberd.

As the Black Knight started to stand up the chosen had plunged the mighty halberd into its back. Then pulling it free the chosen then waited a second for the Black Knight to stand and proceeded to hold his halberd in two hands. Just as the Black Knight was at his full height the chosen dashed forward and then jumped into the air while bringing his halberd up high.

As he landed he brought the halberd down with enough force to cut a large gash through the Black Knight's chest. Just like the others this one screamed in agony and dissolved into white particles and then finally disappeared. The chosen moved onward.

Coming up to a much thinner walkway that connected Gwyn's prison to the rest of the Kiln the chosen walked along different paths until he came across another of the Black Knights. This one wielding the same Black Knight sword as the phantoms of the Black Knights that came from the white light.

It noticed the chosen and immediately came at him. It reared its sword back, ready to stab the chosen and force him off the narrow pathway, but the chosen had been ready for this. With the Black Knight shield in his left had the chosen waited for a moment and then proceeded to parry the oncoming attack. It paid off as the Black Knight's thrusting attack was pushed to the side allowing the chosen to riposte. Instead, the chosen simply kicked the Black Knight off the edge of the walkway and sent it down far below to its death.

As he did this the chosen had another memory of one of his comrades. This time it was about Oscar, the Knight of Astora. Although Oscar did not make it past the asylum, the chosen would never have made it out of the there if Oscar had not dropped him the… body with the key on it.

For freeing him and helping the chosen begin his long journey the chosen would always consider Oscar as a true comrade. Soon after the chosen had made it to his fellow knight, but sadly Oscar was on the verge of death and would soon hollow. The chosen remembered what the knight of Astora had told the chosen that led the chosen on his journey in the first place.

 _"…_ _Regrettably, I have failed in my mission…But perhaps you can keep the torch lit…_ _There is an old saying in my family…_ _Thou who art Undead, art chosen…_ _In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords…_ _When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know…Well, now you know… And I can die with hope in my heart…_ _"_

Oscar had told the chosen of his mission and now passed it along to him. The chosen was forever in Oscar's dept for Oscar had even given him his own Estus flask…

 _"_ _Oh, one more thing…Here, take this. An Estus Flask, an Undead favorite._ _Now I must bid farewell…_ _I would hate to harm you after death…So, go now…_ _And thank you…"_

Guilt had yet again filled the chosen's heart as he later realized in his journey that he could of saved Oscar if he had just given him some of his own Estus flask, but back in the asylum the chosen was new to the world of the Undead and didn't even know the flasks function at the time. For his own incompetence to know how to literally drink from the Estus flask the chosen had let a comrade die and he only had himself to blame.

Pushing the thought aside the chosen continued his venture into the Kiln. After crossing the narrow path the chosen had reached Gwyn's prison. Upon closer inspection the entire structure looked to be made out of both stone and…ash? The chosen wondered how it was not all breaking apart due to the weakened architecture and how the ash was keeping all of it together.

The multiple cracks in the stone should of caused it all to of fallen long ago, but yet here it still was. The chosen was going to be happy to finally slay the once mighty Lord Gwyn and avenge his fellow undead brothers and sisters. Walking a little further the chosen came across another stairway, this one curving downwards, that lead further down and finally stopped at the fog gate that would lead the chosen to Gwyn himself.

On his way down the chosen had come across a Black Knight wielding a mighty Greataxe. Such a large weapon would normally be two handed by a normal human, but this Black Knight seemed to have no problem wielding it one handed.

The chosen charged the Black Knight and quickly brought up his two handed halberd overhead to slam it into the Black Knight. Unfortunately the Black Knight had back stepped and the halberd came down upon the ash covered stairs and kicked up some of the ash as well. The Black Knight seeing its opportunity bent his knees for a split second and then proceeded to jump into the air at a rather astonishing height.

The chosen just had enough time to bring his halberd up to block the incoming attack, but still had taken a good amount of damage. Not relenting its attack the Black Knight swung his Greataxe left and right as if it were as light as feather. This quickly put the chosen on the defensive and he was taking quite the beating. With the last bit of his stamina he managed to back step away from an axe swing that would likely have cut off his head.

Now equipping his shield in his left hand the chosen waited a moment to recover his stamina. The Black Knight seemed to wait for his opponent to recover as if it wanted to have a good duel. The chosen then proceeded to march towards the Black Knight with his shield raised.

Without a shield of his own the Black Knight decided to two hand his Greataxe and slammed it down into the stairway just as the chosen was about to get into range. Seeing the Black Knight's trick the chosen quickly stepped back and thrust his halberd into to Black Knight's visor before the Black Knight could swing his Greataxe up to cleave the chosen in two.

The Black Knight disappeared into multiple white particles with a howl of pain as he departed. The chosen then proceeded down to the bottom of the stairs only to see one final Black Knight standing between him and the Lord of Cinder. Before charging in the chosen decided to take one Estus flask to recover his wounds from the Greataxe wielder. Now down to four the chosen marched forward towards the last of Gwyn's guard.

The final Black Knight held itself with confidence, challenging anyone to dare try and attack it. The finale Black Knight wielded the same weapon as the chosen was currently using. With the non-bladed end of the weapon plunged into the ground the bladed end stood taller than the knight himself.

Along with the Black Knight shield in its opposite hand the chosen would find it difficult to bypass its defense. As the chosen drew closer to the final guard the Black Knight raised his shield and pulled out his weapon from the ground ready to attack. Then the chosen had a strange idea.

'If I can just get a good running start…'

As the chosen thought of his plan to kill the knight, the Black Knight started to advance towards the chosen at a fast pace. Having to react quickly the chosen leapt backwards a couple of times to get some distance between him and his opponent so he could execute his plan.

With having the advantage of higher ground the chosen quickly made a mad dash towards the Black Knight. Then at the last possible second the chosen leapt into the air just narrowly avoiding the thrust attack from the mighty halberd his opponent wielded. As the chosen fell back onto solid ground he quickly stood up and turned around to an almost a humorous sight.

The Black Knight had lodged its halberd into the stairway between both rock and ash. The knight was trying, but unfortunate for it failing, to extract the weapon from the clutches of the stairs. Knowing that he wouldn't have long until the Black Knight succeeded in pulling out its weapon, the chosen ran forward and quickly backstabbed his own halberd into the knight's back.

After kicking the Black Knight off of his weapon the knight tried to get back, but only managed to roll onto his back before the chosen slammed his foot on top of the knight's chest.

For what was probably only a few seconds felt like hours as the chosen looked into the Black Knight's visor. The chosen shivered a little seeing only a cold, dark, and empty visor star right back at him. The Black Knight had hollowed long ago when Gwyn linked the First Flame to push back the Dark, but the chosen still could not stand that Gwyn would not only sacrifice himself to the flame to defy fate, but his own men as well.

They did not deserve such a fate like hollowing, but instead to return to their families and friends and live peacefully. No. Gwyn had taken everything not only from his own knights, but also his kingdom, the citizens of Lordran, and the chosen himself.

Gwyn had committed a grave sin to resist the course of nature, and for that sin he brought down countless others to suffer with him, and for what? His fear of humans and the dark that we harbor inside of ourselves? No matter the cause the chosen would make Gwyn pay for his sins and become the true lord of men.

The chosen would bring in a new age of mankind to live peacefully with one another. An age of peace, an age of prosperity… an age of dark. Coming back from his thoughts the chosen noticed the Black Knight had tried to reach for his weapon while the chosen was lost in thought. The chosen, not wanting to prolong the once faithful knight's suffering any longer, pointed the bladed end of the weapon down onto the knight's chest.

Then he raised it up once and quickly plunged it into the Black Knight. The sudden scene of white particles rising in front of the chosen's eyes, and the disappearance of the body that he was standing on just a moment ago told the chosen that the deed was done.

"Rest well... all of you. May you all find peace in the afterlife." The chosen spoke as he kneeled down to say the small prayer to those that fell due to Gwyn's sin. Rising up, the chosen moved onward to Gwyn.

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 **Well that was the first chapter of "From Dust to Ashes." I have the next chapter ready, but I am going to wait to see how this one is received before I post it. Criticisms are appreciated, but please keep it light since this is only my first story and I am not the best writer out there. Have you seen some of the works on this website? They are grade-A author material! Well that's enough out of me (for now). I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and I will talk to you next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again everyone! I can't believe how much feedback this story has gotten in just one day. To others it may seem like a small amount, but I think that this a great start. I honestly didn't expect any reviews (let alone follows/favorites) until a week or two had passed since I posted it. I will do my best to make these chapters longer. I am going to try and aim for 3,000 to 4,500 words per chapter in the future, but I want to apologize to those of you that think that these first two seem short. I will talk to you all at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

 _ **Rise of the Dark Lord: Part II**_

Finally, the chosen had arrived at the fog gate that would lead him to Gwyn's prison, and soon to be tomb. Just as he was about to enter the fog gate another one of his memories rose to the surface of his mind. It was his darkest memory out of all of the others.

The memory of the person that he could not save. The memory of the person that he did not wish to ever see again. The memory of his closest and most trusted ally that he had come to know throughout his journey. The memory of his brother in arms that helped him throughout his entire journey. The memory of…Solaire. The chosen grabbed his head in pain as the memory began to play out.

… _The chosen had just finished speaking to The Fair Lady and had finally received access to the shortcut that lead to the path leading to Lost Izalith. As the chosen began his decent upon an ancient elevator he decided to check up on his armor and equipment._

 _His Silver Knight armor had all been securely strapped to prevent jostling while he moved. The cape would wave in the air as he descended and couldn't help but feel strength come from the armor as one of Lord Gwyn's proud Silver Knights. With his Silver Knight shield in his left hand and Silver Knight spear in his right the chosen felt like he could take on anything…_

"Oh how wrong I was." The chosen uttered as he still grabbed his head in pain from the memory forcing its way into his mind.

… _Arriving at the bottom the chosen quickly turned around and came to multiple stairways leading off in different directions. Two towards a dead end, one to the Centipede Demon, and one leading to the Demon Firesage's arena. Heading towards the path leading to the Firesage's domain the chosen arrived to look down at a rather high fall._

 _One of the "perks" to being Undead was that your body was much more durable than that of a normal human. Sadly insanity also came with these "perks," but that was only if you lost your purpose in life…_

"I did lose my purpose in this life, and that was to protect my brother…" The chosen said. "That is until I found a new one."

 _After carefully walking his way down the rather large roots that lead to the Lost Izalith shortcut the chosen had reached to what seemed like a dead end. Thankfully the Fair Lady had instructed him on how to activate the mechanism that opened the door._

 _Reaching his hand out towards the door the chosen tapped the old door lightly three times and then nothing. Confused at first the chosen was about to try again when he heard a distant click. Then the door split off into multiple columns that sank into the ground one by one._

 _Before the chosen a long dark hallway stretched out until it faded into the darkness. Preparing himself to make his way to Lost Izalith the chosen was ready for whatever lied ahead..._

"Nothing could have prepared me for the horror that I witnessed in that _accursed_ shortcut." The chosen did not wish to see the ending of the memory, for it had left his heart, mind, and soul forever scarred. "Please. Don't show me this. Don't show me the monster." Despite his pleas his mind continued to play the memory.

 _The chosen had continued to walk through the hallway without much excitement. Nothing resided inside the hallway except for the Sunlight Maggots that resided here._

 _The vermin just jumped randomly and didn't prove a threat at all. The chosen then stopped. At the far end of the tunnel he could see light coming from the entrance that lead to Lost Izalith. The only thing that stood in the chosen's way now was a set of stairs, and a figure that stood atop the stairway._

 _The figure was hard to make out due to there being little light eliminating the hallway. The chosen was not sure if this figure was hostile or not, but if he had learned anything from his brother in arms was that you should always try to find look for the good in people and be civil. If they still wished to behead you then strike them down where they stood. For "a Warrior of the Sun will not just sit and take it!"_

 _The chosen smiled at the lesson his brother had taught him and would try to be civil with meeting this stranger, but that did not mean that he would let his guard down. For a Silver Knight of Lord Gwyn should always stay alert to be ready to face any challenge head on. Waiting long enough the chosen greeted the stranger._

" _Hello traveler! Are you perhaps lost and are in need of assistance?" The chosen asked._

 _The stranger's head shot up and seemed to be looking around franticly to find the source of the voice._

" _Do not be afraid, I mean you no harm. I am a Silver Knight of the great Lord Gwyn. I have been cursed with the Darksign and am now Undead just like everyone else that roams Lordran." The chosen stated to the stranger as he drew closer up the stairs._

 _The stranger now turned completely around for he had found the source of the voice. Upon getting closer the chosen noticed that this stranger looked somewhat familiar. A large round shield in his left hand and what appeared to be a straight sword. A talisman hung on the stranger's left thigh._

 _For a second the chosen thought that this stranger was his brother in arms, Solaire of Astora. That was until he saw a strange looking battle helm on the stranger's head._

 _It looked like the crown of Dark Sun Gwyndolin, but the chosen saw how the horns were more wavy than the crown of Gwyndolin and that as soon as the chosen was close enough the helmet emitted a bright light that caused the chosen to stumble back at the sudden light in his eyes after being in the dark hallway for a while._

" _My, that is quite the bright helmet you have there stranger. My name is…" Now that his eyes had readjusted to the light the chosen looked back up to properly introduce himself when a look of horror crossed his face._

 _There standing in front of him was his brother in arms, Solaire. He was much different than before though. His normal clean armor was riddled with blood. The normal bright sun that was painted onto the chest piece was smeared with the red substance until it looked somewhat demonic. His bloodied hand gripped his Sunlight straight sword forcefully until his knuckles turned white. Then the worst of it all were his eyes._

 _They had a crazed look in them, and his irises were crimson red. It was if he had gone hollow. But how? If the chosen knew anything about his brother was that his will to find his own sun never ran out. Then his brother had begun to hysterically laugh._

" _HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I've found it! I've found it! My own SUN!" Solaire shouted madly._

" _Brother? What has happened to you? What have you been doing!?" The chosen demanded to know answers such as why his brother had been covered in blood. He had a feeling that it was not his own._

" _Doing? DOING!? I've finally found my own sun brother! My long awaited search has finally come to an end. All the trials, all the hardships… all the killing…" Solaire said._

" _Killing!? Have you gone mad brother? We both swore to only kill the dark phantoms from other worlds that, but never to kill the innocent." The chosen was getting scarred. 'How could this of happened? Solaire was the kindest person in all of Lordran. He would never attack an innocent unless they proved hostile to either him or his allies. So what could have caused…'_

 _The chosen then looked up at the strange helmet that had made its way onto Solaire's head. It was one of the Sunlight Maggots, but this one was different. Its eyes glowed a sinister red and it seemed to of attached itself to Solaire's. He could then see that its claws had dug themselves into Solaire's head and were corrupting his mind._

" _That_ sun _of yours is causing you to go mad brother. Please fight it. I know that you are much stronger than this. How could the mighty Solaire of Astora fall to such an insect?" The chosen said._

" _Insect? You dare call my precious sun an INSECT! I will make you pay for your disrespect to my sun. Yes… yes you shall pay with your blood!" Solaire said as he charged at the chosen. The chosen was so startled at what his once gentle and kindhearted brother had said that he couldn't raise his shield as Solaire kicked him back down the flight of stairs._

 _The chosen was sent tumbling down the staris that he had just previously climbed. Just getting up the chosen couldn't block the thrusting attack from the straight sword as it plunged into his left shoulder._

" _Aaaaahhhhh! Brother please stop this! Do not make me force you to!" The chosen said._

" _Brother? I have no brother! My sun is all that I need now to live. My sun offers me unlimited warmth and comfort. Never asking for anything in return… Finally, I have found it, I have!... My very own sun… I am the sun!…_ _I've done it… I have…_ _Yes, I did it… I did! …Ohh, ohhh…" Solaire grabbed his head in pain as the Sunlight Maggot burrowed itself deeper into Solaire's mind. "Hrgrraaaooogh!"_

 _Seeing now that Solaire was beyond saving the chosen knew that he had to end it. Standing back up with his would dripping blood the chosen readied his Silver Knight spear to attack and kill the monster that was once his brother._

" _Brother. I'm sorry that I couldn't save you from this madness. Please… forgive me." The chosen rammed his silver spear into the abdomen of Solaire. Blood poured forth and the chosen then pushed even harder until he forced Solaire onto to ground with the large spear sticking out of his back._

 _As the life started to fade from his eyes the chosen quickly pulled the spear out of his brother and grabbed him. Although he went mad the chosen would comfort his brother until his death._

" _Ahh, its over…" Solaire muttered. The blood continuing to flow from the large wound in his abdomen._

 _The chosen then felt a sudden pain not only in his heart, but in his soul as well._

"… _My sun… it's setting…"_

 _The chosen then suddenly began to shake violently as he held his dying brother in his arms. He didn't want to kill his brother; he only wanted to save him from his madness caused by that god awful maggot._

" _No. Please don't go. Don't leave me here alone in this cold world brother." The chosen said._

"… _It's dark, so dark…" Solaire muttered his final words as his body fell limp while being cradled in the chosen's arms._

" _Solaire? Brother? Hey walk it off. Your fine. Right? Solaire?" The chosen chokes on his words as he starts shaking his brother's limp body._

" _Hey. HEY!" he shouted "Wake up! I said wake up!" The chosen then started to violently shake the corpse._

" _Please! I don't want to be alone again! You were the shining hope to me in this world. You were what made it all the pain, challenge, and dying worth it. So please… don't leave me… alone in the dark…" The chosen then started to sob uncontrollably as he places his head against Solaire's. When he opened his eyes he saw the now glazed over eyes of Solaire stare right back at him._

 _Then the chosen realized what he had done. He did not help his brother. He never comforted him when he questioned his own faith. He allowed his own brother to go insane. He was the one who killed his brother in the end._

" _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The chosen lets out such a loud, soul chilling scream that those even in Anor Londo could hear it._

The chosen had realized that he had fallen onto the ground as he had to experience the pain of losing Solaire again. He was breathing heavily and realized that he still stood outside of Gwyn's prison. The chosen remembered that after he ... killed his brother he had lost all hope in continuing his journey as the chosen Undead. He must have stayed in that same area for… what? Minutes? Hours? Days?

It was hard to keep track of time in Lordran. The chosen had realized something that had given him a new purpose in his cursed life. None of this pain and death would have ever occurred if it had not been for the sinner, _Gwyn!_

Gwyn was the one that created the Undead curse that plagued man since he sacrificed himself to the first flame. Kaathe had informed the chosen how Gwyn had feared the humans and the Dark Lord that would one day be born amongst them. After losing Solaire the chosen had lost all faith in Gwyn. He rid himself of the title of Silver Knight for being one was to serve Gwyn. He no longer wanted to serve as one of Gwyn's pawns.

No he was no longer Gwyn's pawn. Now he was to be the new Dark Lord who would rule the world and user in the age of mankind, the age of Darkness.

After the death of Solaire the chosen had made his way past the ruins of Lost Izalith to the mother of all demons, the Bed of Chaos. She was the last living being to hold a shard of the Lord Soul that would allow the chosen access to Gwyn. The chosen remembered fire, lots of fire during that fight.

After the chosen had beaten the Bed of Chaos he collected his last Lord Soul shard to fill the Lordvessel to access the Kiln. After the fight the chosen had noticed that his armor was charred black just like those of the Black Knights. He also took note that his shield had burned as well to look like those also carried by the Black Knights. What really surprised the chosen however was that his Silver Knight spear had been changed by the chaos flames.

Instead of its straight pointed tip, the point now grew into a long curved blade. It too was charred black and now forever changed into the mighty Black Knight Halberd. No longer would he be known as a Silver Knight who faithfully served Gwyn, now he was the Black Knight who would become the Dark Lord and build his own kingdom for all the lost souls of the world.

To offer them peace with the dark. There would be no more Undead sacrifices and mankind could finally live in peace without the gods shepherding them like sheep.

The chosen was ready to end this cycle and free mankind from his shackles put there by the gods. Putting his hand against the fog gate, the chosen Undead pushed through to meet the once mighty Lord of Cinder.

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 **Well that was a sad part in the game for me and many others I'm sure. Honestly I mentally kicked myself when I found out that I could of saved Solaire. Well I hope that this chapter helped those who were wondering why the chosen decided to take the darker path. Again I'm sorry that this chapter was shorter than the last, but I plan to make up for it with the boss fight with Gwyn in chapter three. Thank you all again for reading my story, and I will talk to you all in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**First off…Wow. Only two chapters out and this story already has over ten followers and almost ten favorites! I honestly didn't expect these numbers this early, but I'm not complaining. Thank you all for the support so far, and I will talk to you all at the end of the chapter. Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Rise of the Dark Lord: Part III**_

The chosen had entered the fog gate and now stood inside of Gwyn's prison. The chosen gripped his halberd tightly as he laid his eyes upon Gwyn. The once mighty Lord of Cinder stood at the middle of the spacious room. As the chosen looked at him he couldn't help but feel disgusted. There stood the once powerful lord in his hollowed state.

Instead of the once aged and strong face that Gwyn had was now replaced with wrinkled and leathery skin. The chosen took note that his arms and legs were in the same state. Where his eyes had occupied once were now nothing but empty sockets that were as black as the Abyss. Gwyn's beard had been singed by the First Flame and was covered in dirt and ash.

In Gwyn's right hand he held the Great Lord Greatsword where it was burning alight with flames.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen." The chosen said with a scoff.

The Lord of Cinder looked up as if he hadn't noticed the chosen when he entered the fog gate. Stepping away from the First Flame Gwyn slowly marched towards the chosen undead. The chosen did the same as they stared each other down.

"It is time for your age to end Gwyn, and the age of Man to begin." The chosen said as he charged forward to Gwyn.

* * *

 **Dark Souls OST - Gwyn, Lord of Cinder** – **Extended**

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Gwyn had launched himself forward at the chosen while bringing his greatsword back to strike the chosen. Raising his shield as he charged forward the chosen managed to block the attack, but was now face to face with Gwyn. Gwyn had brought his leg up and kicked the chosen backwards.

Not able to block this attack the chosen was kicked a good few feet away from Gwyn and fell onto his back. Gwyn had then started to advance when the chosen had gotten back up on his feet. Gwyn had reared his greatsword back to thrust it at the chosen, but the chosen had managed to roll further back in time to dodge it. While Gwyn was recovering from his attack the chosen took the opportunity and ran towards Gwyn and brought his halberd in an overheard arc onto Gwyn. The blade slicing across Gwyn's right shoulder and a small amount of blood was seen.

However Gwyn didn't even seem fazed by the attack, and stood up after recovering from his previous attack. The chosen went wide eyed as Gwyn made a grab for him with his left hand. Gwyn's grip on the chosen's neck was as strong as iron as the chosen tried to beat Gwyn's hand to release him, but to no success.

Then the chosen was further surprised when flames began to erupt from Gwyn's hand and exploded right in the chosen's face.

Standing back up the chosen had retreated further away from Gwyn and found cover behind a stone pillar. Taking one of his four remaining flasks the chosen felt rejuvenated. He took it just in time as Gwyn destroyed the pillar he had been hiding behind with a horizontal swing of his greatsword.

Quickly backing away the chosen waited for Gwyn to attack again to look for an opening. As Gwyn charged at him the chosen rolled behind him as he began a combination of both horizontal and vertical swings, but had missed and was now exposed to an attack.

Seeing his opportunity the chosen quickly swung his halberd around him twice around himself and jumped upon the first swing. With the added momentum the chosen brought down his halberd on Gwyn's back where it connected with the back of Gwyn's right shoulder blade.

Still the Lord of Cinder stood up as if he hadn't just had a blade impact his back. As Gwyn tried to grab the chosen again he quickly rolled out of the way to avoid capture.

"The same trick won't work on me twice." The chosen stated as he thrusted his halberd like a spear into Gwyn's side.

Just as the chosen was about to go in for another attack Gwyn had quickly swung his greatsword backwards and cut the chosen across the chest and sent him flying backwards again onto the ashen ground.

"Aaahh!" The chosen grunted as he began to stand up again. He looked down at the gash that had cut through his armors chestpiece and had started to spew some blood.

As he looked up the chosen saw Gwyn lunging towards him the same way he did at the beginning of their fight.

Quickly bringing his shield up the chosen managed to block most of the blow, but still took some damage as he felt the shield bend inwards somewhat. As Gwyn brought his greatsword back to end the fight the chosen had an idea that would either result in him dying (again) or would allow him to land a huge hit on Gwyn.

As Gwyn brought his greatsword down to kill the chosen the chosen had quickly swung his shield to his left to parry the monster of a greatsword. His parry was true as he felt the sword bounce off the shield and threw Gwyn off balance. Even in his hollowed form the chosen saw the look of surprise that covered Gwyn's face.

Not wasting a second longer the chosen quickly plunged in halberd into the abdomen of the Lord of Cinder. As Gwyn fell to his knees he was now eye level with the chosen undead. Hollowed eyes met a black visor for a brief moment until the chosen had pushed Gwyn off his halberd with his foot.

Before Gwyn could get up the chosen quickly took two of his flasks to restore his vitality. Now down to one the chosen would have to be very careful to avoid having to use it.

Gwyn had recovered from the riposte the chosen had delivered, and began to stand. What made the chosen happy was that when he saw Gwyn stand he noticed that Gwyn now seemed to have slowed down a bit. He seemed to recover more slowly and he held his greatsword a little lower than he previously had.

"Tired are we?" The chosen taunted.

Gwyn then did something that had surprised the chosen even further. Gwyn had plunged his greatsword into the ground and the fire that surrounded the greatsword had gone into the ground.

Suddenly out of nowhere pillars of flame erupted from the ground itself. These pillars of flame reminded the chosen of the chaos flame pillars that the Witch of Izalith used to burn the chosen when he had found out where the witch's real body was.

One pillar had almost gotten the chosen as he rolled out of the way when he noticed the small fires building up under his feet.

As the pillars of flames died down the fire that previously ignited Gwyn's greatsword returned to the blade.

"That was indeed an interesting trick Gwyn, but it will take more than that to kill me." The chosen said as he moved towards Gwyn with his shield raised.

The Lord of Cinder then decided to run straight at the chosen and brought his greatsword down in an arc to cleave the chosen's shield away.

The chosen had seen this coming and quickly backstepped to avoid being flatted onto the ground. Then two handing his halberd the chosen quickly ran towards Gwyn. Bending forward to gather some speed the chosen then jumped into the air with his halberd raised high. Gwyn had looked up to see this and brought up his left fist and struck the chosen in the face, and stopped the chosen mid attack.

His helmet had taken most of the blow, but the chosen could still feel the power behind that punch. As the chosen flew back onto the ground he quickly raised himself up and looked at the Lord of Cinder with hate and anger.

"I will kill you _Gwyn_ , or go hollow trying!" Punching the ashen ground the chosen ran straight towards Gwyn while still two handing his halberd to try the same attack twice. The chosen had tried the same attack on Gwyn, but this time Gwyn had caught the chosen in mid air.

Knowing what was to come next the chosen had tried to get in an attack by holding his halberd in his right hand and jabbing it at Gwyn's hollowed face. Before he could get in a single hit Gwyn blasted the chosen away with an explosion.

The chosen had slowly stood up and was getting very tired of this fight. The once mighty god just didn't want to die and the chosen was almost out of Estus. Looking up the chosen saw Gwyn right in front of him with his foot raised. Bringing his shield up slowly the chosen couldn't block the kick to his chest and was flown back.

The chosen had dropped his shield when he was kicked. It had fallen to the ground to the right of Gwyn. Both dented and useless.

The chosen had gotten up again and saw Gwyn raise his greatsword in two hands and bring it down in a vertical motion. The chosen had tried to block the attack with his halberd, but the force of the blow slammed the weapon out of the chosen's hands and into the ground split in two.

Now weaponless the chosen had backed away slowly as Gwyn marched forward knowing that his enemy was defenseless. The chosen then started to see his life flash before his eyes. He saw himself waking up in the asylum. He saw himself face down the Taurus demon on the bridge and his first time meeting Solaire. He saw himself killing the Iron Golem and making his way up to Anor Londo. He saw himself defeating the four great ones that each held a piece of Gwyn's Lord Soul.

' _Why is this happening? This never occurred during the other times that I had died to my enemies'_ The chosen thought.

Was it because he knew that if he died to Gwyn then he would have failed all those that he pledged to avenge and go hollow? The chosen then looked up to Gwyn as he stood over him with his greatsword about to plunge into the chosen's chest to finish him off.

"I'm sorry. All of you that I vowed to avenge will not have your justice since I could not beat Gwyn. I have failed you all…" The chosen then saw the faces of all of his comrades and allies that he had met throughout his journey.

He saw Siegmeyer, Oscar, Tarkus, Domhnall, Laurentius, Mildred, Leeroy, Beatrice, and … Solaire. He saw all of their faces and how he had failed them.

The chosen then felt something deep inside of him. Right in the middle of his chest he could feel… something. He couldn't quite explain it really, but he didn't care for he was about to be killed and go hollow.

The chosen then closed his eyes awaiting the killing blow that Gwyn was about to deliver.

Suddenly the feeling in his chest grew more intense until it began to hurt. Out of nowhere the feeling in the chosen's chest exploded and was powerful enough to knock Gwyn off of his feet and fly back towards the First Flame.

The chosen looked down at himself and saw something that he thought unbelievable. The ash that had covered the ground around the chosen had started to move on its own and surrounded the chosen as if it were protecting him.

The chosen then noticed how his chest had been set alight with a black flame. ( **A/N: Think of the flames that the Fume Knight (DSII) covers his Ultra Greatsword in when he is halfway dead.** )

Surprisingly to the chosen the flames did not hurt, but instead felt warm.

As the chosen stood up the ash continued to surround him and the flames began to spread across his body, but still no pain came from the flames, only comfort. Soon the flames engulfed his entire body and the ash surrounding him continued to shift and sway.

"This… What is this power?" The chosen asked himself. Completely forgetting the fight with Gwyn the chosen looked across Gwyn's prison and saw the Lord of Cinder standing up. What caught the chosen's eyes was that there were even more injuries on Gwyn than there were before.

Looking at Gwyn the chosen extended his hand forward and noticed how the ash moved along with his hand.

"Is this my… souls doing?" The chosen asked himself. Gwyn had taken the opportunity to strike the chosen while he was awed by this newfound power.

As Gwyn jumped towards the chosen to strike the chosen noticed and raised his hands up to block the strike. A wall of hardened ash stopped the attack dead in its tracks. The chosen then had an idea.

Reaching into the wall of hardened ash from behind the chosen then pulled out a sword make entirely out of ash. The sword resembled that of the Black Knight sword and the chosen was a little disappointed.

"Well it is no halberd, but it will do the job nonetheless." The chosen said. The chosen looked up in time to see Gwyn break through the wall of ash with a swing of his greatsword.

The chosen had then rushed Gwyn before he could recover. While two handing the sword the chosen quickly attacked furiously at Gwyn by swinging the sword around in multiple directions. Gwyn had started to stagger, but held a will of steel and started to block the chosen's attacks.

Noticing this the chosen quickly lunged forward with the ashen sword and had the ash surrounding him push forward. The rush of ash had broken Gwyn's guard and the tip of the sword found its way into Gwyn's chest.

Gwyn had fallen to his knees and was trying to rise until the chosen forced the Lord of Cinder down to the ground with ashen shackles that wrapped around his arms and legs.

The chosen then proceeded to plant his right foot on top of Gwyn's chest. Now seeing how the tables had turned the chosen decided to put an end to this long fight.

Raising his ashen sword into the air with the blade pointed down, the chosen said one last thing to the Lord of Cinder.

"For all the pain, suffering, grief, loss, and death that you have caused to so many others I, the Chosen Undead, shall kill you here Gwyn and avenge all those that suffered due to your sin. May you find peace in the afterlife." The chosen said the last part in an almost emotionless voice as he plunged the bladed tip one last time into Gwyn's chest where it stayed put.

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh…" Gwyn gave one last final cry as he too dispersed into multiple white particles like his charred Black Knights.

* * *

 **End -** **Dark Souls OST - Gwyn, Lord of Cinder** – **Extended**

* * *

At the chosen's feet Gwyn's soul burned and emanated a strong power. It looked like a fire, but the chosen knew better and grabbed it without the risk of being burned.

He picked the soul of Gwyn up off of the ground and still noticed that the black flame still burned in his chest, although it didn't cover his body anymore since he defeated Gwyn.

Suddenly the black flame moved on its own as it reached forward and grasped Gwyn's soul. It then proceeded to consume the Lord soul and absorb its power.

The chosen felt a rush of power flow through his entire being. The Lord soul had fueled the black flame and it had grown bigger. It was now about three times bigger than the chosen's hand. Then the black flame had slowly gone out as it dispersed back into the chosen's body.

Although he could no longer see the black flame the chosen could still feel its power burning within him. Then looking up the chosen saw the First Flame.

It looked like any other bonfire that the chosen had visited, but this one's flame was almost out completely.

Walking over to the First Flame the chosen stood over it and gazed into the remaining embers.

"To think that all life was born from this flame, and now only the embers remain. It is time for the age of Fire to come to an end, and for the age of Dark to begin." The chosen sighed and began to turn away from the First Flame. Looking towards the exit the chosen walked towards it.

… (Reminder to self: Put horizontal line in here)

Arriving at the stairway that led back up to the room that contained the Lordvessel and where Kaathe awaited the chosen, the chosen looked to the sides of the walls and noticed that something changed.

Instead of the bright white light that had illuminated either side of the stairwell were replaced by a much darker grey light that dully lit the stairway. The chosen still saw the Black Knight phantoms that came out of the walls, but they had changed as well. They seemed to of started to fade away somewhat. The chosen could see that their legs were missing and were replaced by a ghost like trail.

Another thing that the chosen noticed as he made his way up the stairs was that their transparent visors were filled with some kind of burning flame. As the chosen was nearing the top he was cut off by a passing phantom and saw upon closer inspection that the flame was the same as the black flame that burned in the chosen's chest during his fight with Gwyn.

"What is this?" The chosen asked to no one in particular.

Deciding to ignore it for now and meet with Kaathe the chosen reached the top of the stairs and continued into the room without turning back towards the phantoms. What the chosen didn't notice was that all the phantoms he passed had looked in his direction.

Passing the large ancient double doors the chosen entered the room that contained the Lordvessel. The chosen had noticed that the Lordvessel's flame no longer burned and was shattered on its pedestal. It must of died when he killed Gwyn and left the First Flame to die out.

* * *

 **Dark Souls OST – Dark Lord Ending**

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"My Lord, bless thy safe return."

The scene in front of the chosen had surprised him. In front of the chosen on either side there were multiple Primordial servants. The one that had just spoken to the chosen was Kaathe, but he could not identify which one was the Darkstalker since none of the serphants had moved their mouths to speak.

"Let Kaathe, and Frampt, serve Your Highness." Kaathe spoke.

The chosen was surprised that he had heard Frampt's name, but decided to ignore it for now. Then all the serphants began to bow their heads to the chosen. The ones closest to him first to do so, and then those behind them followed suit.

"We are here to serve Your Highness."

Looking at all the serphants the chosen then proceeded to walk down the small stairway that led to the altar of the Lordvessel. Walking in between the Primordial serphants, the chosen felt like he had even more power than before. Without him noticing the black flame had appeared again within the chosen's chest.

"Let true Dark be cast upon the world." Kaathe continued to speak.

As the chosen continued to march forwards the black flame grew bigger and started to cover his body, but the chosen did not care for he felt comfort from the dark flame.

"Our Lord hath returned'st…" Kaathe finished.

* * *

 **End - Dark Souls OST – Dark Lord Ending**

* * *

Reaching the edge of the walkway the chosen came face to face with the Darkstalker himself.

"My Lord, an honor it is to be in thy presence. I knew that you would prove different from the others. Now you may usher in the long awaited age of men, the Dark age." Kaathe said and bowed his head just as the other serphants had done.

"It is good to see you again Kaathe. It is time for all the lost souls of this world to unite under one kingdom and live peacefully with the Dark." The chosen spoke.

"My Lord, may I ask something of you?" The Darkstalker asked without raising his head.

"Yes Kaathe. Raise your head and ask me your question." The chosen commanded.

"My Lord, thank you. You are lacking a title my Lord. You cannot be called upon by the name 'Chosen Undead' anymore. What shall your future subjects call you, my Lord?" Kaathe had asked as he raised his head. The chosen had not thought of anything such as a title. The chosen became stumped as he could not think of something that would fit him.

Throughout his entire journey the chosen had only been called a hollow or the chosen undead, but he could never recall his real name. Another price of the curse as it make one forget your memories of your past life before becoming Undead. Thankfully Laurentius had thought of a name for the chosen before the man went hollow trying to find a pyromancy down in Blighttown. He just remembered it now since he was so distracted with finding and killing Gwyn.

The chosen crossed his arms and lowered his head a little in thought as he tried to think of a proper title.

When the chosen looked down he noticed the black flame and how the ash both on the ground and on his armor began to flow around the chosen as he thought of his title.

Suddenly an idea had come at the chosen as hard and fast as Smough's charging attack. He now knew what both his enemies and subjects would know him by.

"Kaathe, I have made my decision." The chosen spoke.

"My Lord, please tell me of your title so I and your future subjects may refer to you as." Kaathe had asked.

Taking a breath, the chosen had readied his answer to the Primordial serphant's question.

"Those under my rule will refer to me as Abell, The Ashen Lord." The chosen stated to the Darkstalker.

"Very well, my Lord, from this day forth you will be known by your title. May your enemies tremble at the mere mention of your name, and your subjects cheer at the sound of it." Kaathe said as he bowed his head slightly to Abell.

Abell stood proud as he had accomplished his goal to avenge those that suffered by Gwyn and now he had to build his kingdom of lost souls.

Abell turned around one last time to look at the entrance to the Kiln of the First Flame. The day was full of surprises as Abell looked in shock as multiple phantoms of the Black Knights started to come out of the entrance.

So many poured out of the entrance, more than Abell encountered during his entire journey, and marched their way towards Abell. Abell was unsure of what would happen next and called forth another ashen Black Knight Sword in his right hand and an ash Black Knight shield in his left.

"My Lord, please calm down. I believe that your knights have just arrived." Kaathe told Abell as he too observed the phantom spirits of the deceased charred knights.

As the mass of phantoms came closer to Abell, he noticed that their visors still had the same black flame burning within them. As they reached Abell they had bent down on their right knee and placed their right arm onto their bent knee, and proceeded to bow their heads to the Dark Lord.

"Why do they kneel to me Kaathe? These knights had been loyal to Gwyn, even after they had hollowed." Abell asked the serphant.

"My Lord, I believe that it is your souls doing. See how the Dark flame that burns in their eyes matches the one that burns in your chest. I believe that they now serve you for you have succeeded Gwyn and had absorbed his soul, and now they are in need of a new Lord to serve." The Darkstalker answered.

"How did you-." Abell was about to ask when Kaathe cut him off.

"Forgive me for stopping you my Lord, but I sensed the remaining power of Gwyn's soul within yourself when your Dark flame absorbed it." Kaathe said.

"It is alright Kaathe, but they are merely phantoms and could do little to no harm to a living creature. They do not have bodies anymore.

Then Abell had an idea that would require his black flame. Looking at the phantoms of the Black Knights Abell commanded, "Rise, my loyal knights."

They had complied and stood up. Abell walked towards them and they had parted out of his path. Abell walked past the now shattered Lordvessel and looked down the stairway that led to the Kiln.

"My Lord, why are you going back to the Kiln? There is nothing there except the dying First Flame. What could you possibly need there?" Kaathe asked with confusion lacing his words.

"I must create new vessels for my knights Kaathe. Otherwise they will be nothing but ghosts that could not harm a fly." Abell answered as he ran down the stairs past the dozens of phantoms.

The phantoms began to follow suit and ran after their new lord into the Kiln of the First Flame.

Abell had run far into the Kiln until he reached Gwyn's tomb. With the phantoms behind him Abell walked into the tomb that he was just in ten minutes ago. Happy to see the ash on the ground Abell had began to channel his soul until the black flame grew larger and engulfed his body once again.

Raising his hands Abell started to shift the ash until it began to rise into the air. Slowly he forced the ash to the far side of the tomb and began to remove more of it until he started to see pieces of armor poking out of the ground.

Abell saw horns, arms, and legs of armor sticking out of the ash as he removed more of the ash out of the way. Then finally removing most of the ash, Abell could see multiple armors of Black Knights. They had been covered with the ashes when Gwyn linked the Fire and time had covered them up. There were so many on the surface, but Abell knew more lied underneath.

"Go my loyal knights and take these empty vessels as your new bodies. Rise again as loyal knights to your new lord." Abell commanded.

The phantoms of the Black Knights complied and started to move towards the armors. Abell could see them lay themselves into the armor and their phantom forms disappearing.

"Rise and walk this earth again." Abell commanded.

At first none of the armors moved and Abell was confused until he saw the black flame erupt to life from the visors of the armors helmets.

Each Black Knight rose slowly and Abell could see each had carried both a Black Knight sword and shield just as they did in their phantom forms. Knowing that there were still more phantoms that needed vessels, Abell ordered the newly risen Black Knights to wait by the stairs that lead out of the Kiln.

Abell continued the same process until there was no more ash remaining in the entire tomb.

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 **Okay another chapter done. Sorry for the wait, but this one took much longer to write and I needed to make sure that the fight with Gwyn was more realistic than when you really fight him in the game. #Parrytodeath. Before anyone says anything, yes I used my Username for Abell's title. I thought that it would fit really well given Abell's power to control ash. Well what do you guys think? Let me know in your reviews. Also, the next chapter will be the final piece of the "Rise of the Dark Lord" arc. I'll talk to you guys in the next chapter!**

 **P.S. – I recently read "Hounds of Atlas: Rise of the White Fang" by Archangel IXI. It's a pretty good story so far and deserves more attention than it has right now. I recommend it to you guys/gals.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm really happy to see this story get more followers/favorites. Thank you all for the support I am really eager to end this arc of the story and finally move onto the next arc which we will arrive on Remnant. I'll talk to you all at the end of the chapter. On with the story!**

* * *

 _ **Rise of the Dark Lord: Finale**_

It had been three years since Abell had extinguished the First Flame and freed humanity of the Undead Curse forever. During those three years Abell had built a kingdom for all the lost souls that had once been Undead and lost everything. The charred knights that had served Gwyn once had pledged their loyalty to Abell and became his Ashen Knights. Abell had brought peace to his kingdom and his subjects had the highest respect for their Lord.

Abell had remembered the beginning of his rule as the Dark Lord.

 _At the beginning of his rule Abell had tasked his Ashen Knights to invade the lost city of Anor Londo. There his Ashen Knights had pillaged and plundered the lost city. Abell had ordered a select few of his knights to find the painting that led to the cold painted world of Ariamis. The rest were to burn Anor Londo to ashes._

 _Abell had stood on the ledge that was behind the elevator that led to the lost city, and looked at the sight before him. There in the distance Gwyn's castle had flames erupting from the towers and windows. Smoke was rising into the starry night sky._

 _During his journey, Abell had returned to Anor Londo after he had learned the truth about the Princess of Sunlight, Gwynevere. Kaathe had informed Abell how she had only been an illusion conjured up by Gwyndolin of the Dark Sun. Abell had removed the fake princess and Anor Londo was plunged into Darkness. Of course this had caused both the Fire Keeper and Gwyndolin to try and take Abell's head, but he had put an end to the both of them._

 _Abell had placed the portal to Ariamis in a secluded chamber in his castle and always had one guard on watch incase the Crossbreed decided to come out._

Abell had built his castle atop the ruins of Anor Londo. The castle itself had been made out of the same material that created Gwyn's tomb, both hardened ash and rock.

The castle itself was grand in its own appearance. At the foot of the castle there was a rather large court yard that had a long cobblestone walkway, lined with statues of Black Knights on either side, which led to the castle's gate. Two large doors that had depictions of an everlasting dragon stood tall and were two feet thick. The gate had been made out of the same black iron used to forge Black Iron Tarkus's armor.

Past the gate lead into another court yard, but this one had been much smaller than the previous and was entirely made of cobblestone. Across the cobblestone courtyard was the entrance into the castle that had iron bars that could close off the entrance if need be.

From a view further away you could see three large towers that stood over the land. Two towers stood at the same height on the left and right of the middle tower. The middle tower itself stood even taller than the others. At the top of each tower lay a large burning black flame. The same burning flame that was Abell's soul.

Inside the castle were multiple corridors, chambers, libraries, and rooms. Inside the middle tower near the top Abell sat in his throne. He still wore the same Black Knight armor that he used when he killed Gwyn. It had grown darker over the years and stood out from the rest.

His throne consisted of the same markings that had covered much of the Black Knight armor, and held the same color with a hint of gold mixed in.

There was a small staircase that had led up to the throne, and at the foot of the staircase was one of Abell's most trusted knights, Sir Alonne. He was one of the Undead that Abell had rescued when he removed the curse, and had one day shown up at Abell's keep. Through his loyalty and strength to help lead Abell's armies he was given his rank of the third Knight of Omen.

The man was rather tall reaching a height of six and a half feet. Alonne had claimed to come from the Eastern lands like Shiva of the Forest Hunters.

Sheathed to his side was Alonne's cursed blade, the Bewitched Alonne Sword. The sword had interested Abell when he had seen it in action. A rather long katana that had very good reach and cutting abilities, but its long frame made it very fragile. Abell had seen Alonne keep an entire pouch of repair powder just in case if it broke.

What had really caught Abell's eye was the hidden power behind the blade. If the blade were to ever be plunged into its master, the blade would become covered in a black and red aura and could easily slice through its enemy's defense. Abell had never seen anything like it, and that was what made it unique.

"My Lord, there is urgent news that I must inform you with." Alonne spoke with a very calm voice.

"Go ahead Alonne. What news do you bring to me?" Abell asked.

"Food supply has started to grow low again and the citizens are starting to panic about the recent cuts to their rationing." Alonne stated.

This news had put some fear into Abell's heart. He had not thought of this when he extinguished the flame, but without Light the world was slowly decaying. Once great lakes went dry, and entire forests had died off. Food was becoming much harder to obtain due to dry soil and the little sunlight that came through the dark grey skies.

Kaathe had withheld the information from Abell on how the world would one day die since fire was cast out, and this had caused the Ashen Lord to stop all conversation with the Darkstalker.

Abell was failing his kingdom and his citizens simply due to his inability to provide food for them. He had been working tirelessly to solve this crisis and still could not find a solution.

"My Lord?" Alonne asked.

"My apologies Alonne. Have the news spread that there will be a new supply of food in the coming month." Abell commanded Alonne.

"As you wish my Lord." With a bow of his head Alonne had exited Abell's throne room.

Taking off his helmet, Abell brought his hand up to his face and began to rub his tired eyes. Beneath the Black Knight helmet was a middle-aged face with pale blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that was kept very short. With bags under his eyes Abell longed to rest, but knew that he had to keep search of an answer to the famine that was slowly taking over his kingdom. Abell had tried many things to stop this problem.

He had spoken with both the Miracle Church and Magic Academy for a solution, but they could not think of anything. Abell remembered when he had tried to get both the Priest and Headmaster to work together to find an answer. Both had refused despite of what their Lord had asked of them.

Abell could not hold it against them. During his journey he remembered that sorcerers and clerics did not like one another very much. He had to stop Big Hat Logan from almost blasting Petrus's head off with a great soul spear after a heated argument about the power of sorcery. Abell chuckled softly at the memory.

"Miracles and Magic, just how Light and Dark used to be." Abell mused to himself.

"Miracles… magic…" Abell lowered his voice to almost a whisper. Then suddenly a revelation had dawned on him.

"Alone neither are whole, but together they are one. What if they became one?" Abell asked himself.

Knowing who he had to talk to about this idea Abell made a mad dash out of his throne room as if he were being chased by Pinwheel skeletons.

"My Lord? Where are you going?" A guard stationed outside his throne room asked.

"Inform Alonne that he is in charge until I get back. I need to find someone that could hold the answers to our problem!" Abell answered as he rushed down the corridor that led to his throne room.

 _Later…_

Abell had arrived in the old New Londo ruins. He had before considered moving some of his citizens to this area, but decided against it as the threat of the Darkwraiths still lingered inside the old ruins.

He had all the main entrances into the forbidden ruins cut off to prevent the escape of the Darkwraiths. Abell might have been the Dark Lord, but the Darkwraiths were indeed the enemies of man as Ingward had warned Abell during his journey.

They would hunt down innocent undead and kill them for their humanity, and even kill those that belong to their own covenant. This had disgusted Abell had refused to join when Kaathe offered a position, much to the serphant's annoyance.

Abell had taken the back route through old Blighttown until he had reached a makeshift bridge that consisted of two very long wooden planks that reached across the canyon to the other side. There Abell had used his Master Key that he had bought from Domhnall to open a locked door that led to New Londo.

It was still the same as it was twenty years ago, quite, dark, and dead. Abell knew that the man he was looking for resided in the old ruins.

Gripping his repaired Black Knight halberd tighter in his grip Abell marched onward until he reached a poorly built wooden bridge. Two blue torches were lit on either side of the bridge, and had made the place even more eerie.

Sighing, Abell marched forward yet again into the Dark.

After fighting his way past the tortured spirits of New Londo's citizens and facing down multiple Darkwraiths, Abell had found himself in what appeared to be an old marketplace for the citizens.

He saw multiple stands that contained different items for purchase. Some contained old and rotted fruit while others seemed to of sold various toys for children to play with. It was a shame what had happened to the people of New Londo, but Abell had avenged them when he had killed the Four Kings.

Walking through the abandoned marketplace Abell had noticed that it had grown quieter than usual. Not even the ghosts had resided in this sector of the ruins and the whole place was screaming with silence.

The man that Abell was looking for had once been an esteemed sorcerer of the Magic Academy who had created multiple healing spells that helped in the hospitals greatly. Sadly he was banned from the Academy for implementing miracles into his magic. They had called them 'hexes' and most were burned by the Academy.

Abell had managed to stop the Academy from burning all the scrolls that contained the so called 'hexes' for they helped greatly, but since the Academy kept it secret from him the news didn't arrive in time to save the scrolls.

Rumor had it that the man had left the Academy after the burning of his scrolls and had isolated himself here in the ruins of New Londo.

Abell decided to search the marketplace since it seemed to be the only place that the ghosts had avoided, even the Darkwraiths seemed to not reside here, but Abell kept up his guard in case of an ambush.

Abell had reached the end of the marketplace with no luck of finding the man.

Before turning around to double check the marketplace Abell had spotted an old church at the top of a hill. Deciding to check it out Abell walked towards the crumpling building.

Pushing the doors inward with a loud moan as if they haven't been used in years, and Abell was sure that they haven't.

Looking into the church Abell could see broken benches that had all but decayed. At the back of the room Abell could see what looked like a chair facing away from him. Walking closer towards it Abell could make out wheels on either side of it and now knew it as a wheelchair.

He noticed an arm resting on the right armrest of the wheelchair.

"Hello?" Abell called out. No response was heard from the stranger. So again Abell called out.

"Hello? Are you-" Abell was cut off.

"Yes." The man in the wheelchair answered. His voice low and sounded tired.

"Then do you know why I have come?" Abell asked.

"Yes. You are Abell, The Ashen Lord. You defeated the old King of Sunlight, Gwyn long ago and cast away the First Flame to end the Undead curse that plagued humanity for so long. It is an honor." The man turned around in his wheelchair slowly and Abell had seen his face.

The man was wearing a hooded black cloak that ran down to his feet. Two pale white hands stuck out and rested themselves on both armrests of the wheelchair. The man had a brownish black beard that could rival that of Andre of Astora rested on the man's slightly aged face.

Two brown eyes looked right into Abell's own pale blue ones. The man's skin had become very pale after being underground for so long.

"You know who I am. I have heard the stories of what you have done. Of the 'hexes', as the Academy called them, that you created. They had helped many of my men who returned from battle, but the Academy had burned almost all of the scrolls that of which they were written." Abell calmly told the man in front of him.

"Did they now? What scarred fools, all of them." The man scoffed at the news.

"I know of your story and 'hexes', but not of your name. May I ask you your name?" Abell wanted to know how to address the man.

"Ahh yes, of course my Lord. My name is Grandahl, the Darkdiver." Grandahl answered with a smile upon his face.

After explaining the famine that was slowly taking over Abell's kingdom, he had asked Grandahl for a solution to this crisis.

"I am afraid that I have not the power to help bring life back to the dying lands to grow food. I am sorry my Lord." Grandahl looked down in apology.

"There is no need to apologize. The world is slowly dying and I can only watch as my kingdom falls into death." Abell said in a slightly depressed tone as he stood up to leave Grandahl to his own devices.

Just as Abell had reached the two old doors Grandahl stopped him.

"Wait my Lord! There may be a solution to your problem, but not here."

Turning around Abell asked, "What do you mean by 'not here'?"

"I mean in this time my Lord." Grandahl answered and wheeled himself closer Abell.

"Grandahl, explain yourself to me now. My patience grows thin." Abell was getting annoyed that Grandahl wasn't telling him how to save his kingdom and people.

"My Lord, legend had it that the primeval human resided in the lost town of Oolacile. My Lord, if you can obtain the primeval human's power, you could possibly revive the land to save your kingdom." Grandahl answered Abell.

"Oolacile? But that town was lost to time, and disappeared. How would I possibly get there?" Abell asked.

"The legend also stated that the primeval human longed for the other half of his broken pendant. That he would drag those through time to retrieve it. My Lord, if you can find the other piece of his pendant then maybe he will pull you into Oolacile to retrieve it." Grandahl said.

"Grandahl, what you speak of is of pure imagination. Time travel? Certainly you have gone mad." Abell spoke thinking that the man had lost it.

"No my Lord, you do not understand. If you were to obtain the power of the primeval human you could not only save your kingdom from famine, but so much more." There was a glint of joy in Grandahl's eyes as he imagined all he could do with that kind of power.

"I have heard enough of your rubbish Grandahl. I will take my leave now." Abell said and turned around to leave the mad sorcerer until Grandahl said something that made Abell's blood turn cold.

"It is either that or you watch your kingdom die." Grandahl spoke.

Abell didn't say anything back as he walked out of the old church and into the marketplace.

When Abell emerged from the back entrance to New Londo, he made sure to lock the door and throw the Master Key down into the canyon below. He would not be going back. After reaching his castle Abell had relieved Sir Alonne of his duties of being in charge and retreated to his private quarters.

There he had taken out his old Bottomless Box where he stored all of his unnecessary items during his journey.

After about ten minutes of searching, Abell found what he had been looking for. A broken off piece of a pendant that was missing its other half. Yes, Abell had come across this during his trip to the Duke's Archives. It had dropped from a crystal golem that Abell had killed.

When he first retrieved the broken pendant, Abell had no idea what it was for and had thrown it into the Bottomless Box since he had no use for it.

Now that he had thought about it, Abell remembered Princess Dusk telling him of Oolacile, her home and how she was not a part of Abell's time.

' _Could it be that what Grandahl said was true?'_ Abell thought to himself as he turned the broken pendant over in his hand while examining it. His thumb had brushed up against the middle of the pendant and all of a sudden it began to radiate a small dark aura.

Then the broken pendant had started to shake violently in Abell's hand and caused him to drop it onto the floor. A dark, shadowy portal began to form over the pendant and stayed in place over the pendant.

"What-" Abell never got to finish as a large deformed hand shot out of the portal and grabbed Abell's entire body. Then it jerked backwards and into the portal, pulling Abell along with it.

Abell had slowly awoken to a dark room. It was so dark that he had to blink a few times to assure that he was awake. As Abell had risen to his feet slowly he looked around the room that he had been taken to. He could see that it was a large cavern of sorts and there seemed to be some strange white light encompassing all around the cavern. Abell walked closer to the light and upon further inspection it also had a dark tinge to it.

' _Are those… faces?'_ Abell thought as he looked closer at the white light and examined it further. What he saw were multiple ghostly faces that seemed to be withering in pain while inside the white light.

Abell had reached out to touch the light when he heard a large deep growl emitting from behind him.

Turning around to face the source of the noise Abell had laid eyes on something out of a nightmare.

Standing at about twenty feet high, the monster in front of Abell had stretched out legs that ended with feet that had four pointed claws. In the beasts right hand Abell could see a catalyst of some sorts that had strange protrusions coming out of it. The beast's left arm carried the same hand that dragged Abell to its domain. Upon closer inspection of the beast's left arm Abell could see it moved like a dark tornado. The hand had been large enough to grad Abell's body and Abell observed that the hand was covered in what looked like… teeth?

The things head was what made Abell take a few steps back. There resting atop the beast's head were massive horns that had grew from its head and onto its back. Multiple red eyes were randomly placed on the horns and seemed to be looking straight at Abell. The beast's head was small compared to its body, and it seemed to lack eyes on its actual head.

Its large maw had barred its teeth at Abell and another loud growl was heard from deep within its throat. Looking down at the beast's chest Abell could see something dangling on a small chain around the monster's neck. Looking closer Abell had realized that it was the other half of the broken pendant!

' _Is this… the primeval human?'_ Abell thought. What had caused such a transformation into such a beast? Was this really humanity's progenitor?

Without thinking, Abell had drawn the other half of the pendant from his back pouch. How it got from the floor to his pouch Abell would not know.

Upon seeing the other half of the pendant the beast began to stomp its feet upon the ground as if it were excited. It then seemed to remember that someone else held the pendant and it began to growl even louder at Abell.

Abell had then thrown the other half of the pendant to the beast not out of fear, but respect. If this beast was humanity's creator then Abell wished not to deny his ancestor its property. Even if it wasn't, the pendant was useless to Abell now since it only sent him here to this place.

The beast had caught the other half in midair with its overly large hand. Placing its catalyst down the beast used both hands and muttered something that Abell could not understand as what appeared to be black magic entered the pendant. When the beast let go of the pendant it was whole again.

You couldn't even see the crack that had split the pendant in two in the first place.

The beast then had picked up its staff and looked at Abell with a much calmer face. No longer did it bear its teeth at Abell or growl at him. It began to reach forward with its left hand with its left index finger pointed out.

As the appendage grew closer towards Abell he had began to raise his shield when the beast's left index finger touched his forehead. Suddenly Abell had dropped his weapon and shield as he grabbed his head in pain. It was as if the Iron Golem had brought its Greataxe down right onto Abell's head.

When the beast removed its finger from Abell's head the pain had abruptly vanished. Then a resounding voice echoed in Abell's head.

" _Thank you, my child, for returning my pendant to me."_ The voice had said.

"What is this? Who are you?" Abell asked curious about the beast in front of him and why it had called him his child. Although Abell already had an idea of what, or rather who, the beast was.

" _My name is Manus, Father of the Abyss and the primeval human. I have used my dark sorcery to allow us to speak to one another. In my current state I cannot speak coherent words and must use this method to communicate. Although I have not had the need for it for quite some time."_ Manus answered.

"It is an honor to meet humanity's creator and I thank you, Father." Abell kneeled to Manus in respect to the Father of humanity.

" _Rise, my child, there is no need for such praise here."_ Manus told Abell and he complied.

" _I apologize for dragging you so forcefully from your home to my time. I have been searching for my pendant's other half for so long and I had no idea of where it had gone. When the citizens of Oolacile awakened me from my slumber, I had thought that fire had finally subsided and that the world moved into the age of Dark. But they had deceived me and had tortured me to no end! My own children had harmed me and took what I had held dearest away from me. My rage at them had caused me to use the Dark Soul and start the spreading of Darkness. I was consumed by my anger and the Dark Soul changed me into this beast so I could carry out my revenge against Oolacile."_ Manus finished his story of how he became the beast that stood in front of Abell.

"Then one of Gwyn's knights, Artorias, tried to stop you by trying to kill you and halting the spread of the Abyss." Abell added for he had heard the legends of the Abysswalker along his journey.

" _Yes. He had tried, but failed. I held no mercy for him as he tried to strike me down. I had made him suffer by corrupting his very soul to the core, but unfortunalty a small amount of his sanity still remains and he resists my control."_ Manus stated with hate filling his voice.

"Father, I have good news for you to hear, but I must ask something of you after I tell you." Abell said.

" _Tell me this news, my child, and then you may ask your question."_ Manus told Abell.

"Thank you. The news I deliver is that in my time, Dark will cast out the Light and the age of mankind will follow. I am the one who will cast away the Light and usher in the age of man as the Dark Lord." Abell informed Manus of the future to come. The Father of the Abyss then started to make a strange croaking noise coming from his throat. Manus, Father of the Abyss, was laughing heartily at the news that Abell had delivered.

"You find this… amusing?" Abell asked with confusion. After calming down Manus answered.

" _I only laugh, my child, that the Age of Fire will in fact one day run out, and only Dark will remain. That fool Gwyn had resisted nature and only prolonged the inevitable. I am happy that my children will finally have their age of glory, and that you will be leading them. Tell me, my child, what is your name? Then you may ask your question."_ Manus finished.

"My name is Abell, The Ashen Lord. I too deliver bad news from the future as well, Father." Abell said.

" _What news could possibly be bad Abell? Man is ruler of this world and you are leading them."_ Manus questioned Abell. Sighing, Abell delivered the news about the world in the future.

"Unfortunalty, without Fire the world will slowly die off. So far it has been three years since I cast away the Light, and slowly famine has started to take over the kingdom I have built. Crops are running dry and water is becoming scarce. I have known this for a while. The world is dying and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I must protect my kingdom, and I need your power to open a breach through space and time like you did so I can find my kingdom a new home. Can you bestow the Dark Soul to me so I may save mankind's age?" Abell finished and took a short breath to fill his lungs with air after saying so much in one breath.

Manus had stayed silent for a while and Abell had a hard time reading his features. It looked like Manus was in deep thought about this decision. Looking back down at Abell he answered.

" _I have lived long enough to finally know that my children have fulfilled my wish for them to have their own age. Only you may inherit the Dark Soul, no one else can handle its power such as you. But be warned, Abell, if you are to give into your anger and rage then you will be consumed by the Dark Soul and become a beast like me. Do not make the same mistake I did."_ Manus spoke. What looked like a twisted smile covered Manus's face as he started to disappear into white particles. Slowly fading away Manus spoke one final time to Abell.

" _Thank you, Abell, for fulfilling your ancestor's final wish."_ Manus finished as he disappeared and only what looked like a sprite of humanity took his place.

However this one looked different than the rest that Abell came across during his journey as it was at least two times larger and had a strange red aura to it. Abell found it strange, but had picked it up.

As soon as he made contact with it, the black flame appeared out of Abell's chest. Knowing what to do, Abell placed the Dark Soul in front of the burning flame. He watched as the flame seemed to reach out and grasp the Dark Soul and disperse it into itself and grew much stronger.

Suddenly a huge amount of power rushed through Abell's entire body as the Dark Soul fueled the black flame and gave Abell strength. He had not felt such a rush of power since when he consumed Gwyn's soul twenty years ago.

Abell had then wondered how he could open portals such as Manus had to bring Abell here.

Looking down at his right hand Abell saw a black and white flame appear on his palm. Examining the flame Abell had shot his hand forward to open a portal, but nothing happened.

Shaking his fist in the air a few times to try to get a portal to form resulted in the same outcome. Starting to get frustrated that he couldn't make a simple portal, Abell let out an angered sigh.

' _If I don't figure out something soon, I'll be trapped he until I die of hunger, or boredom.'_ Abell thought. Then an idea stuck him.

Letting out another angered sigh, Abell raised his hand in front of him with the black and white flame still burning, and _thought_ of where he wanted to go when a portal appeared in front of him. It looked like a giant humanity had appeared, but it was wide and tall enough for a human to fit through.

"I must make Smough look like a genius." Abell muttered to himself as he stepped through the portal.

At first everything was dark and Abell couldn't see anything until a light shown far away. Walking towards it Abell noticed that the light was growing larger. Finally reaching it, Abell stepped through and had found himself back in his private quarters where the shadow portal appeared that took Abell to Manus.

Looking back down at his hand Abell noticed that the black and white flame disappeared and his palm looked normal.

"Interesting." Abell said.

After a few hours had passed, Abell had called upon his three most trusted knights, the Knights of Omen.

In front of Abell kneeled his three best knights. Each had been loyal and had shown strength in their time spent serving Abell. To Abell's right was Sir Alonne, the third Knight of Omen.

To Abell's left stood Aulnor, the second Knight of Omen. Aulnor had a strange fighting style with his long straight sword. To most it seemed like a greatsword, but he wielded it with such finesse that it would catch most of his opponents off guard. He was particularly fond of thrusting the sword when his opponents guard was down and landing a devastating blow. Some of the other knights had nicknamed him the 'Penetrator.'

However Abell never questioned it as Aulnor pledged his loyalty to Abell and had been Abell's silent body guard whenever his Lord went out.

Standing between the two was Abell's most trusted knight. Tyrell, the first Knight of Omen and captain of the three who had been with Abell the longest. Abell remembered when they first met.

 _It was at the beginning of the invasion of Anor Londo. Abell had already ordered his Ashen Knights to charge the castle. Abell had been along with his men to help take over the castle from the remaining Silver Knights. There were more than Abell remembered, but his Ashen Knights outnumbered them four to one. Abell had just started to riposte a Silver Knight who had tried to bypass his shield with a Silver Knight spear, but Abell knew the weapon all too well and easily parried it._

 _As he plunged his Ashen Black Knight sword into the Silver Knight's chest, Abell failed to see the Silver Knight rearing up behind him ready to strike him down with his Silver Knight straight sword. Just as the sword was about to meet the back of Abell's neck, another straight sword had come down to block the blow._

 _Hearing the resounding clang Abell turned around to see two Silver Knights fighting one another. The one that had saved him was shorter than the attacker by about a head._

" _My Lord, are you unhurt?" The shorter Silver Knight asked even though he was trying to keep the other Silver Knight at bay, but Abell could see his fatigue._

 _Quickly getting up, Abell had rushed to help his savior first, and ask questions after. By rushing the Silver Knight, both Abell and the shorter Silver Knight killed the attacker with each of them slashing across its chest._

 _As the knight died, Abell turned towards his savior._

" _Who are you and why do you wear the armor of Gwyn's knights?" Abell asked as he raised his sword slightly in case the short knight proved hostile._

" _My apologies, my Lord, my name is Tyrell, and I was one of the Undead that you had rescued when you killed the old Lord Gwyn. I had heard of the raid that you had planned to take over Anor Londo, and wished to join you and the others. I wore this armor to make the other Silver Knights think that I was one of them so I could attack from the inside. Who do you think opened the entrance to allow you access into the keep?" Tyrell explained himself and then asked._

" _Hmm… clever. I am glad that you joined us then on this raid, but how did you get inside without raising an alarm?" Abell asked Tyrell._

 _Tyrell responded, "Simple. I killed the two archers on the far balcony with my arrows, and then I just snuck inside through the open window on the balcony."_

 _Abell was speechless on how easy Tyrell made that sound._

" _It took me almost fifteen tries to get past that part of Anor Londo when I was Undead." Abell said with an air of jealousy in his voice, but he quickly turned that jealousy into respect for Tyrell._

" _How young are you Tyrell?" Abell asked._

" _I am seventeen, my Lord." Tyrell answered. Now that Abell observed Tyrell he noticed that the Silver Knight armor did look a size or two too big for him._

" _I am impressed that you managed that on your first try and infiltrated the enemy so easily. When the invasion is done I want you to find me so we can discuss a position I will be offering you." Abell said._

" _Yes, my Lord, I will see you then." Tyrell took a somewhat dramatic bow and left his Lord to join the others in the fight._

' _Youth these days. They will always surprise you.' Abell thought to himself as he moved onward._

Abell remembered that memory fondly and how Tyrell had become the first Knight of Omen.

Tyrell had held onto the same set of Silver Knight armor that he wore during the invasion, and now Tyrell fit into it properly. Tyrell was Abell's most trusted knight and was a true leader on the battlefield.

That is why Abell had decided to bestow this next mission to Tyrell alone.

"My Knights of Omen, rise." Abell ordered. Each complied with the order.

"Each of you has proven yourselves to me in your own way, and that is why I had given you your titles." Abell said as he walked up to each of them.

"Sir Alonne, the Wanderer. Sir Aulnor, the Silver Demon. Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel. All of you form the Knights of Omen of The Ashen Lord. I am proud to have you all under my command." Abell spoke.

"Thank you my Lord." All three said in union.

"Now I will tell you my entire plan to save this kingdom and her people. What is said in this room will not be told to another soul. Understood?" Abell looked at them with a piercing gaze.

"Yes, my Lord." They all said again in union.

"Good. As all three of you know the world has started to decay since I had defeated Gwyn and let the First Flame burn out. Sadly, this has caused famine to start to affect our kingdom. The citizens will not last much longer and we need to find a solution. Thankfully I have when I was pulled into the past by the primeval human, Manus." Abell retold his encounter with Manus to his three knights and how he had inherited the Dark Soul.

"With the power of the Dark Soul I can create a path through space and time. With this power I will open a portal to another world where I will have one of you three venture into. I do not wish to spread my forces thin so that is why only one of you will be going." As Abell finished all three knights nodded that they understood the circumstances.

"Alonne, I will have you stay here to help me keep the citizens calm about the growing food shortages." Abell said.

"Yes my Lord." Alonne said as he bowed his head to Abell.

"Aulnor, you too shall remain here to help train the Ashen Knights further. We will not know what lies beyond the portal and must be ready for anything. Also I have a special mission for you, but we can discuss that later." Abell said.

"Yes my Lord." Aulnor spoke just audible enough for Abell to hear.

"That leaves you Tyrell. You will be the Vanguard here. You will travel into the portal and see what lies ahead of us." Abell spoke.

"Yes my Lord." Tyrell spoke with confidence.

"All three of you are the future of this kingdom. To light the fires far, for mankind to prosper. Vereor Nox." Abell finished.

"Vereor Nox" All three said in union.

 _Two days later…_

Tyrell had packed up his gear and equipment for his venture into the portal. He had made sure to visit the local blacksmith to repair his armor, weapon, and shield.

Although the Ashen Knights had disliked Tyrell for it, he still wore the full Silver Knight set along with the Silver Knight straight sword and shield.

He also carried with him a Dragon Slayer Greatbow that he pillaged from a dead Silver Knight archer during the invasion of Anor Londo. He could shoot targets up to two miles away, three if they didn't move. Tyrell had insisted on taking only small amounts of food as to not take away from the citizens.

He also carried with him three repair powders, twenty prism stones, and a single humanity. He also had made sure to learn the ancient miracle "Sunlight Blade" to give him an extra boost to his attack in case he came across a large opponent.

Putting all of his items inside a small pouch that rested on his side, Tyrell made his way to his Lord.

Tyrell met his Lord in the Kiln of the First Flame at the foot of the steps. Off in the distance Tyrell could see the old Lord Gwyn's tomb where his Lord casted away the Light forever.

"Ahh Tyrell. Just on time as usual." Abell chuckled.

"I could not disappoint my Lord anymore than I have. I am a failure." Tyrell said in a dramatic voice.

"You're as much of a failure as far as I can throw a Taurus Demon." Abell said as both he and Tyrell shared a laugh together.

"My Lord, I am ready to embark on my mission for you." Tyrell said getting into a more serious attitude.

"Very well, Tyrell. I will ready a portal." Abell said as his right palm burnt alight with a black and white flame.

' _Take my friend safely to a world where mankind can survive and prosper, please'_ Abell thought as a portal appeared out of thin air. He was worried about his friend and didn't want to lose another close companion.

Tyrell had looked into the portal. It held only a pitch black that seemed endless. Tyrell had become a little nervous about entering the portal, but knew that it was for the kingdom's future and his Lord. Abell spoke to Tyrell.

"That humanity that I gave you will allow us to communicate with one another. I will be able to talk to you through the Dark Soul and you can report back to me." Abell explained why Tyrell held a single humanity.

"Thank you, my Lord. How will I know when you are calling me?" Tyrell asked.

"When the humanity starts to flicker is when I will be calling you either to get a report, or to inform you of news that is going on here." Abell said.

"Thank you, my Lord." Tyrell said and was about to go into the portal when Abell stopped him.

"Just remember one thing. Do not consume or destroy that humanity. Doing so will make me assume that you are in trouble or have gone rogue. I have confidence that you will not betray me or your kingdom. Good luck to you Tyrell, and be careful." Abell said as he clasped his hand onto Tyrell's shoulder.

"Understood, my Lord, and thank you for selecting me for this mission. It is an honor to be trusted with such an important task." Tyrell said as he also put his hand onto Abell's shoulder.

Looking at one another they nodded and let go of each other's shoulder and parted ways.

Tyrell looked into the portal and took a deep breath, and then he jumped into the sea of black.

* * *

 **Well that took a really long time to finish. I hope you all enjoyed this extra long chapter, because there won't be another one for a while. So what do you guys think? I know I used characters from DS2 and even the Penetrator form Demon Souls, but I wanted to include at least two bosses from the other Souls games (Yes I'm aware that Demon Souls isn't connected to Dark Souls but I don't car). Also, what did you guys think of the bit with Manus? I had a whole thing planned out where I was going to have Abell go through the entire DLC, but this thing is already over 7,000 words so… I said no to that. I am impressed with myself that I got over that many words, but like I said before I'm going to try and keep these chapters between 3,000 and 4,500 words, or at least that range. Well how will Tyrell deal with Remnant when he arrives? Well you see when he gets there he… nah. I'll wait till next chapter to tell you all. Thank for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! I am happy to announce that this story has reached over a thousand views, and is over halfway there to two thousand! Also, we reached over thirty followers and over twenty favorites! So much good news and I am really happy that you all are showing this story kindness. Thank you all for the kind reviews and constructive criticism. Now onto the story!**

* * *

 ** _A New World: Part I_**

Tyrell had jumped into the shadowy portal without a doubt in his mind. He had trusted his Lord with his life, and would gladly die for him if the need arose. He could not fail in his mission for not only his Lord, but all the food deprived citizens that were slowly succumbing to illness and starvation.

When Tyrell jumped into the portal he had not known what could be waiting on the other side for him.

All around Tyrell was just pitch blackness going on forever. There were no lights, stars, or… anything really. Just pure darkness surrounded Tyrell.

It reminded Tyrell of a place that his Lord told all of his Ashen knights. A place called the Abyss. It was where the Dark had originated from, and how it ate any light that entered it.

It felt so empty and sad just looking into the void.

Tyrell was walking aimlessly through the void, but could not seem to find the exit.

"My Lord, guide me. For I cannot find my way out." Tyrell said as he looked at the piece of the humanity that he held in his right hand.

A few moments had passed, but nothing had happened. The tiny sprit of humanity remained still in Tyrell's hand.

With a sigh Tyrell looked up from the humanity and looked at his surroundings again.

Then off in the distance he noticed something flickering. As Tyrell narrowed his eyes he could barely make it out as a small white light. Being very far from the light he could see how he had easily overlooked it.

Putting the sprite of humanity away, Tyrell marched onwards toward the white light.

…

Arriving at the white light Tyrell had noticed that it was the same size as the portal that he had entered.

Upon closer inspection Tyrell also noticed short flashes of images suddenly popping out from the light and then just as fast vanishing.

He had managed to make out a few. One had looked like a castle with one large tower in the middle surrounded by shorter ones.

Another was that of a strange building that had been filled with what seemed to be large metal crates, each with a symbol of a snowflake printed onto each of them.

The last image had shown a sea of red that had stretched out to the horizon.

"Is this… our new home?" Tyrell had asked himself.

Deciding to take a breath before going through the white portal, Tyrell had prepared himself for whatever lay on the other side. With his Silver Knight sword in his right and Silver Knight shield in his left Tyrell again jumped into a foreign portal.

…

Slowly opening his eyes Tyrell was nearly blinded by the bright light that shown down on his face.

As his eyes adjusted Tyrell had realized that he was lying on his back and was looking up at a bright shining sun. After living so long beneath the grey covered skies that covered Lordran, it was hard to look at it.

Closing his eyes and looking away from the sun Tyrell then opened them and took in his surroundings. Trees had surrounded him in every direction, but something about these trees was far different than the ones he was accustomed to.

Instead of the green color that covered most trees in Lordran, these ones had leaves the color of crimson.

Tyrell had stood up from his position and had kept his sword drawn and shield raised.

He had no knowledge of this place and what lurked in this forest.

After a few minutes of checking his surroundings, Tyrell lowered his sword to his side; he had done the same with his shield.

The forest looked beautiful, despite the blood colored trees, and had set Tyrell at peace.

That peace was interrupted as he felt the sprite of humanity start to move around in his pouch.

Sheathing his sword, Tyrell retrieved the sprite and looked into it. Suddenly the sprite began to grow in size in Tyrell's hand. It had stopped short of his head while he still held it in his hand.

As Tyrell peered into the sprite a white phantom image of his Lord had appeared. His Lord's image looked as it were on fire, with small white flames covering his entire being.

Kneeling down Tyrell addressed his Lord. "My Lord, I have arrived through the portal as you ordered."

"Good Tyrell. I felt it within the Dark Soul as soon as you had left the Abyss." Abell said.

"That was the Abyss, my Lord?!" Tyrell exclaimed raising his head to look at his Lord with confusion.

"Yes. I apologize for not telling you this, for I had not known what would lie on the other side. When Manus pulled me through his own portal I could not observe my surroundings. My sight cut off from his large hand." Abell spoke.

"It is fine my Lord. There is no need for an apology. I accepted this mission and its dangers that would follow." Tyrell said.

"Thank you Tyrell. Now where are you? Can that world sustain as our new home?" Abell asked with a hint of worry.

"I am now currently in a forest with red leafed trees, but other than that I have no idea. As for your second question, I cannot answer that yet. I will need to explore this world more before I can give you an answer my Lord." Tyrell said.

"I understand Tyrell. I will contact you again later, but for now keep up your guard. We do not know what could reside in that forest. In my experience, forests are dangerous territory. So tread carefully Tyrell." Abell said.

"Understood my Lord. I will have more information for you next time we speak." Tyrell promised Abell.

"I have faith that you will. Good luck Tyrell, Vereor Nox." Abell wished Tyrell luck as his phantom image disappeared and the humanity returned to its original state.

"Vereor Nox." Tyrell said.

Rising up, Tyrell continued onwards through the forest.

…

It had been hours since Tyrell had spoken to his Lord, and the end to the forest was nowhere in sight.

 _'_ _By the old gods! How long is this forest going to continue!'_ Tyrell thought to himself as he was growing somewhat tired and would soon need to rest.

The sun had started to set and the sky had taken on a yellow/orange color with a hint of dark blue.

Still Tyrell found the scenery around him fascinating and beautiful. It looked like many of the landscape paintings he had seen in the marketplace in the lower Burgs where the citizens lived.

Tyrell had continued to walk until he had heard a faint rustling sound to his left. Turning to the direction of a small red bush, Tyrell drew his sword and slowly approached the small bush.

More rustling occurred and the bush began to shake from side to side. Raising his sword back, Tyrell thrusted his sword into the shaking bush.

Then a small squirrel had hopped out of the bush and ran off towards the left.

With a sigh of relief Tyrell turned around and had come face to face with a white mask. Two blood red eyes boar into Tyrell's as the two stood there for a couple of seconds until Tyrell raised his shield to deflect a clawed swipe that came at him.

Jumping away from the beast in front of him he now saw that it had a thick black hide that produced bone like spikes.

It was as large as one of the Drakes that resided in the Valley of Drakes. Tyrell also took note that it had black fur covering its entire body and both clawed feet and hands. The white mask, that was mere inches from his face earlier, had strange red markings that covered the mask and the two glowing red eyes that starred at Tyrell.

Taken by surprise at first, Tyrell now readied his straight sword and started to circle the beast.

It tracked Tyrell and began to circle around him as well, both looking for an opening in their enemy's defense.

With a loud roar the creature had ran at Tyrell on all fours. Tyrell rolled to the side as the beast took a swipe at where he was previously standing.

Rising quickly Tyrell charged the beast and did a quick horizontal slash that had cut through the beasts hide like butter.

With a grunt of pain the beast retaliated by shifting its weight to its right and tried to slam into Tyrell.

It would have been successful, but thankfully his shield had taken the failed attack. In turn Tyrell brought his sword down onto the previous wound that he inflicted on the beast earlier.

Before the beast could do anything else Tyrell had thrusted his sword into the wound that caused the beast to roar in pain until it fell to its side lifeless.

Tyrell had looked down at the beast with a look of both fascination and curiosity.

It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The beast seemed to act on animal instinct. Was it being territorial, or perhaps looking out for its kin?

The now dead beast had pulled out another trick that had surprised Tyrell. Its body had begun to evaporate into the air. In minutes there was almost nothing left of the beast and Tyrell was speechless.

He looked at the blood on his sword and noticed too how the blood had evaporated off of the blade as well.

"Fascinating…" Was the only word that Tyrell could muster after witnessing the spectacle that appeared in front of him.

Apparently the beast had not travelled alone as another one of the creatures appeared out of the forest. However, this one was different.

Although it resembled the previous beast in almost every way, Tyrell noticed differences though.

This one was much larger at about three to four times the size of the one Tyrell had just killed. Many more of the bone like spikes protruded out of its back and looked longer and sharper.

Tyrell also saw how it seemed to be covered by bone like armor that the previous had lacked. The armor covering the arms and legs would make it harder for Tyrell to strike the hide successfully.

Looking at the remains of its fellow Ursa and then the human in front of it, the Ursa Major roared loudly in anger. It then began to charge the human in full force.

Tyrell had to raise his shield to block the incoming charge head on, but the force behind the attack was much stronger than that of the smaller beast. Causing Tyrell's feet to slide backwards, but he had kept them firmly planted on the ground to not fall down.

The blow itself had taken much of the air out of Tyrell, but he quickly recovered as the beast began to strike at the shield, trying to claw it out of the human's hand.

Realizing that he was losing his footing quickly, Tyrell quickly backpedaled to just narrowly miss a claw swipe aimed at his chest.

Tyrell then dashed forward while the beast was recovering from its constant swiping.

As he feared, when his sword made connection with the beast's armored forearm it had simply left a small slash mark where he had stuck.

Tyrell could not bring his shield up in time as the beast swatted him away and took a nasty blow to his ribcage. He could have sworn he heard one or two cracks upon the impact.

Standing up, Tyrell soldiered on and ignored the pain emitting from his chest and faced down the beast.

Realizing it had hurt the human, the Ursa Major barred its teeth in a grinning fashion as it gazed upon the wounded human.

"What? You think that will stop me? It's going to take more than that to kill a Knight of Omen beast." Tyrell stated as the beast lost its grin and was replaced with a snarl.

As the beast began its next attack, another charge, Tyrell quickly side-stepped the beast and ran around behind it where now it's back faced Tyrell.

Seeing the multiple spikes on its back, Tyrell knew he couldn't penetrate through the armor to the hide.

Knowing this, Tyrell had brought out an old talisman that the Miracle church gifted to him shortly after learning the miracle "Sunlight Blade."

It was nothing too special as it was made of white cloth and had a single black feather bound to it by a sturdy silver string.

He placed the talisman at the base of the blade where the hilt was, and began to cite the ancient ruin.

"I call upon the old Lord's firstborn, The God of War. Grant me your power for I must defeat mine enemy in battle. Let the God of War touch this blade and give it the power of the sun. With this power I am granted but a taste of your strength, and I will slay mine enemy with your holy light. Grant me you're Sunlight Blade." Tyrell finished the old ruin and dragged his talisman across his blade.

The blade had started to emit powerful rays of sunlight, the most powerful form of lightning. The beast had turned around as soon as Tyrell finished the ruin and began to charge.

Bringing his sword back Tyrell prepared to meet the beast head on with his lightning charged sword.

The beast had almost jumped off the ground and it brought its claw up to attack the human from above, but had met the human's shield instead.

Tyrell raised his shield to block the incoming attack from the beast, and it had paid off. When the claws of the beast scratched against his shield they had fallen to the ground instead of Tyrell himself.

Now open to attack, Tyrell swiped his lightning sword and had aimed at the beast's neck.

In one fluid motion, Tyrell's sword had pierced the little armor that was around the neck and sliced through fully. The beast's head had flew up into the air and landed behind the beast.

Its body fell to the ground lifeless at Tyrell's feet.

"Heh heh heh." Tyrell chuckled to himself. He hadn't felt this excited since he fought off the Hellkite Drake that lived in the old upper Undead Burg.

Although he had taken a small beating, Tyrell knew that they would heal in time.

Deciding he would rest for the night, Tyrell had set up a small camp near a large dead log. There he had lit a small fire to keep warm and to not attract any unwanted attention.

Taking one of the apples from his bag, Tyrell had noticed that it was not the usual sized apple. It had been smaller than his palm in width and was about the size of his pinky in height. It also had lost much of its red color and was replaced with a dull brown.

Sighing, Tyrell took a bite out of the small piece of food. Although it did not taste the good, Tyrell knew that if he was going to survive on this new world then he would have to make sure his food supply didn't run out. He would have to hunt.

Deciding to put out the fire, Tyrell had rested up against the dead log and rested his eyes. He had made sure to keep a hand on both his sword and shield in case of an attack. He could not go to sleep completely lest he be caught by surprise.

As Tyrell rested, he did not notice the figure that witnessed both the battle with the Ursa Major and his Sunlight Blade, sitting in the branch of a nearby tree. The stranger wanted to meet this man in the morning.

…

Tyrell had woken up at the crack of dawn. If he was going to get anymore food then he would have to start hunting bright and early.

Gathering his belongings, Tyrell was about to head out from his temporary campsite when he felt a strange sensation.

It was as if someone, or something, had been watching him in his sleep. Ignoring the feeling for now, Tyrell had set his mind on finding more food.

…

Using the forest around him, Tyrell had set up a basic trap. It consisted of a large flat piece of rock propped up by a small sturdy stick tied to a bendable root that Tyrell took from the dead log.

As bait Tyrell had used a small piece of meat that he had brought along and a Prism stone to attract smaller creatures. He placed it in a small clearing at the base of a tree.

It wasn't the most complex trap, but Tyrell had no experience with hunting anything smaller than a Drake.

Sighing, Tyrell waited for what seemed like an eternity until he noticed a small rabbit had entered into the clearing.

Becoming deathly silent Tyrell watched as the rabbit made its way towards the trap he had constructed. It moved closer, allured by the shining blue color the Prism stone gave off until it saw the food that lay behind it.

Moving closer towards the trap Tyrell waited with anticipation as the small creature was almost underneath the rock.

No sound resonated from the forest as if every living thing waited to see what would happen.

Just as the rabbit was going to start eating the piece of meat a cracking sound resounded throughout the clearing.

The sound of the crack had scarred of the rabbit that had finished off the piece of meat, before Tyrell could pull the stick out from underneath the rock.

"Damn." Tyrell muttered as he looked around his surrounding to find the source of the noise that cost him his meal.

Looking around Tyrell saw nothing, but he remained on guard. He gripped his sword even tighter as he heard another cracking sound come from the forest.

This time Tyrell found the source of the noise. A male figure in what appeared to be brown leather clothing approached Tyrell. The bottom half of the figure's face had been covered up by a rather large collar that reached over his nose.

The man's eyes were colored hazel, and Tyrell noticed the pulled back black hair that came down to the man's ears. He appeared to be… human.

Not taking any chances Tyrell unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the man even though he looked unarmed.

"Halt! Who are you? Was it you who has been following me?" Tyrell asked of the man in a calm manner.

Qrow noted that the stranger sounded fairly young.

The feeling Tyrell had that morning only grew as he traveled throughout the forest. The man obeyed Tyrell and stopped a few yards away.

"Easy now, there's no need for you to point that sword at me stranger." The man answer in an evenly calm manner, but it sounded worn like he had seen years of conflict and bloodshed.

Tyrell had lowered the sword only slightly, but kept it pointed at the man.

"I will ask again. Who are you and why have you been following me?" Tyrell answered in a voice that said that he would not ask again.

"The name's Qrow and I saw how you handled that Ursa Major yesterday. That was some fancy use of your Dust." The man, Qrow, had answered Tyrell.

"You got a name?" Qrow asked.

 _'_ _What on Lordran was Dust?'_ Tyrell asked himself internally. Deciding that it was only fair to answer the question, Tyrell returned the favor.

"I am Sir Tyrell, The Sentinel, and knight of the Ashen Lord." Tyrell stated with pride.

"Not sure who this Ashen guy is, but where are you from? I've never seen armor such as that before." Qrow said with a wave of his hand, gesturing to Tyrell's Silver Knight set.

"I am from the land of Lordran, and this armor was forged by the blacksmiths of old Anor Londo." Tyrell said.

"Never heard of it." Qrow stated blankly.

"And you never will. Old Anor Londo was burned to the ground once my Lord rose to power." Tyrell said in a low tone.

"So what's a foreigner like you doing out here in the middle of the Forever Falls?" Qrow asked.

"So that is the name of this forest. It has a nice ring to it." Tyrell muttered to himself.

Noticing that Qrow was looking at him with an odd look, Tyrell answered.

"I am on a mission for my Lord, which is all you need to know." Tyrell did not trust the man at all. He could not trust anyone until he learned more about this world.

"Tell me, how have humans come to live here?" Tyrell was curious about how humanity already seemed to reside on this world.

Qrow gave Tyrell a questioning look and raised his left eyebrow as if confused.

"Um, are you okay? Humanity has existed on Remnant for as long as we can remember. Where have you been?" Qrow answered.

 _'_ _On another world, but due to the curse I have forgotten many things, including our own world's name'_ Tyrell thought while looking down at the ground slightly in disappointment.

"I'm not sure what's wrong with you pal, but I have some time to kill before my mission resumes. You seem lost and hungry." At that moment Tyrell's stomach gave a small growl, "I'll escort you to Vale. I guess I owe you that much since I scarred off your would-be meal earlier." Qrow said while scratching the back of his head.

"Thank you. I would appreciate that very much." Tyrell said as he lowered his sword and put it in its sheath, and placed his shield upon his back. "Lead the way."

Nodding, both Qrow and Tyrell started to make their way to the West towards Vale when a loud rumble came to their ears.

Qrow had started to reach for something hidden underneath his clothing when Tyrell spoke up.

"My apologies, I have not eaten anything save for a _small_ apple in a day." Tyrell apologized as a low growl resounded from his stomach again.

It reminded Qrow of a Beowulf's growl, and it brought a small smile to his face. Tyrell could not see it, however, as Qrow had his back turned to him.

"Here, let's get you something to eat." Qrow said as he led Tyrell to his own little campsite.

…

"Hunters? As in those that hunt animals?" Tyrell asked as he took a bite out of his cooked rabbit leg.

They had traveled for nearly two hours until they came upon Qrow's camp. It was nothing special. A small tent that looked like it housed only one person and the fire pit that was slowly cooking the meat of a skinned rabbit.

It was currently night time, and the moon had risen into the sky.

 _'_ _Why is it shattered?'_ Tyrell thought.

Tyrell had to give the man credit for he couldn't spot it when they were apparently right next to it.

Qrow had taken the liberty to camouflage his camp with multiple leaves and small bushes covering both the tent and the surrounding area. It blended in quite well.

"Well that is half the answer. Yes, we Hunters hunt down not animals, but the creatures of Grimm." Qrow corrected Tyrell.

"I take it that… Ursa, as you called it, was one of these creatures?" Tyrell said.

"Yes, and it was a Major at that. Grimm that live and survive for years become much stronger and, some say, smarter." Qrow said.

"Interesting. Are these Ursa the only type?" Tyrell asked.

Qrow had given a short chuckle as he responded, "I wish. Those fat pieces of meat are incredibly slow, although they can pack a punch if you're not careful." Qrow had seen Tyrell get hit by the Major and, from what Tyrell told him, he had gotten injured.

Qrow continued, "There are many types of Grimm out here. From Beowolves, to Nevermores, and giant Deathstalkers, they come in all shapes and sizes."

Qrow was suspicious of Tyrell since he had asked him the question of how humans came to live on Remnant. His lack of knowledge on the Grimm deepened that suspicion.

"Well this world seems to thrive with these dangerous beasts. How has humanity survived against them?" Tyrell pressed further for more information.

"Your village must be _very_ secluded if they haven't heard of the four kingdoms." Qrow said.

"Um… yes. The village that I was born in had been very isolated and never had contact with the outside world." Tyrell lied as he did not want to be discovered yet.

"The four kingdoms have been beacons of hope against the Grimm ever since Dust was discovered by man. Atlas. Mistral. Vacuo. Vale, where we will be leaving for at dawn." Qrow listed as now he was the one who wanted to ask a few questions.

Tyrell noticed the look in the man's eyes and knew that he would have to come up with an excuse to not be found out.

"I've never seen someone actually apply Dust to their weapon before. Could you tell me how you did it?" Qrow asked with curiosity in his voice.

Not able to think of something right on the spot, Tyrell lied in a worried voice, "I am sorry, but my home does not like to tell of our secrets to the other kingdoms, for we fear that they would turn our own techniques against us."

"Ahh I see. Do not worry, all the kingdoms have secrets that they would like to keep under the rug from the others." Qrow said understanding.

"Thank you for understanding." Tyrell answered.

"So a knight huh? Not many of those around anymore." Qrow said while giving a faint smile.

"Really? Where I am from there are nothing but knights. How opposite our homes seem to be." Tyrell returned with a smile of his own.

Qrow looked at the young man in front of him. He was almost as tall as Qrow was at about six and a half feet tall, and carried himself like a true knight in older times.

His face was still young. Qrow guessed him to be in his early twenties, but decided not to ask. Light brown hair had covered Tyrell's head and had a small ponytail hung from the back in the center. His eyes were the color of grey, but Qrow noticed a slight hint of red in them.

This Qrow didn't find surprising as his young niece, Ruby, had silver eyes like her mother.

Nothing else was said between the two men as they both retired for the night. Qrow had gone into his small tent and Tyrell had laid his back up against a tree as he waited for Qrow to go to sleep.

After about an hour, Tyrell had been woken up by the movement of the humanity inside of his pouch.

Standing up quietly, as to not wake up the slumbering Qrow, Tyrell had walked a short distance away from the camp to answer his Lord's call.

Upon raising the humanity up in his hand, it began the process of increasing in size until it stopped just short of his head again. The black and white flame of the sprit gave off an eerie glow in the night.

The same white phantom image of Abell had appeared in the now larger humanity.

"It is good to see you well Tyrell. Do you have any new information on that world?" Abell asked.

"Yes my Lord. This world has been called by the name of Remnant. There are also other beings that reside on this world. One of these beings is known as a creature of Grimm. They are either very hostile or very territorial from what I have encountered so far." Tyrell informed Abell.

"Grimm? Strange, but I am sure that they can be dealt with, but Tyrell you said one of the beings that reside there. What is the other?" Abell asked.

With slight hesitance Tyrell answered his Lord, "I cannot believe it my Lord, but somehow mankind had reached this world far before we had."

Abell's head had snapped up upon hearing this news and answered, "Impossible! How could there be other humans on another world that is not our own?!" Abell had said in a slightly less calm voice.

"Your guess is as good as mine my Lord. However, the humans here seem to be in a constant conflict with the Grimm creatures. While the Grimm seems to be born of Darkness, humanity has been born in Light, or so says my guide at least." Tyrell said.

Abell had retracted somewhat at this piece of information. "I… must think this information over. Is there anything else to report Tyrell?" Abell asked.

"Yes my Lord, one more thing. There seem to be four kingdoms in which humanity resides in on this world. They are safe havens for humans seeking protection against the Grimm, and I am currently being escorted to one of them now, the kingdom of Vale." Tyrell finished and waited for Abell to talk.

"Thank you Tyrell for this information. Continue gathering more and I will start making preparations to have our kingdom to move to this wor- Remnant." Abell corrected himself.

"You are welcome my Lord. Has there been any news on the famine that is taking the Burgs?" Tyrell asked as he was worried about the citizens there.

In a low voice Abell responded with, "We have had to section off parts of the Burg to prevent the spread of disease, and another graveyard was built for the newly deceased." Abell had put his head down in mourning for the lives that were lost to the famine.

In a slightly depressed tone Tyrell said, "Thank you my Lord for informing me of what is happening. Soon we will have more food than we will know what to do with, and a new home." Tyrell had put on a faint smile to let Abell know that he had not given up hope to help save his kingdom.

"Thank you Tyrell. Vereor Nox." Abell's image faded away and the humanity sprite returned to its original size once again.

"Vereor Nox." Tyrell said.

Taking a deep sigh, Tyrell had stood there for a while thinking about the future and what it could entail.

Not too far away, Qrow had witnessed Tyrell's entire conversation with the humanity sprite.

 _'_ _What on Remnant was that black flame? Was that that Ashen guy he mentioned earlier? And what did he mean by "a new home"?'_ Qrow thought to himself. He had suspected that Tyrell was different, from his lack of knowledge of Grimm and humanity in general, but he did not expect anything like that flame.

Quickly pulling out his scroll, Qrow muttered to himself, "Ozpin's going to want to hear about this."

* * *

 **Well I think that I'll end that one there. Well now Tyrell has landed on Remnant and got to fight a few Grimm! Oh yeah… Qrow was there too. I apologize that this chapter didn't have too much action in it. We will be arriving at Vale in the next chapter, but not after some 'fun' in the Forever Forest. Well I'll talk to you all in the next chapter, and thank you all for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**First off, thank you all. This story has only been up for less than a month and we have already hit over two thousand views, almost forty followers, and thirty favorites. I am so happy that I could just praise the sun! In fact I will (goes on to praise the sun looking through the window). Okay enough with fooling around. Seriously, thank you all for the support and I am looking forward to the future.**

 **On a side note, I have had a few people leave reviews, but since they were a guest I couldn't respond to thank them and answer their question(s).**

 **One question was if Tyrell or Abell was the protagonist, and I am not going to answer that since you all don't know Tyrell well enough yet and we just got into the crossover to reveal more of the plot.**

 **Okay, time to shut up and onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **A New World: Part II**_

They had both woken up early in the morning to continue on their journey to Vale. Qrow had packed up his temporary camp and was currently leading Tyrell through Forever Falls. He was still unnerved about what he had seen last night.

He knew that after his first encounter with the foreign knight he knew that the man seemed nervous. Qrow knew that he had been lying about where he was from, and his lack of knowledge of Remnant as a whole proved it. Tyrell was a complete mystery to Qrow, and could also prove to be a threat as well to the kingdom.

' _Just who are you Tyrell?'_ Qrow had asked himself as they moved forward.

He had contacted Ozpin last night about Tyrell and the mysterious black flame he witnessed. He had yet to hear a response from Ozpin, which was a little unusual for the man, but Qrow assumed running an academy to train the next generation of hunters and huntresses would be time consuming.

Deciding to focus back on his objective of escorting Tyrell to Vale, Qrow had decided to strike up a conversation.

"You had mentioned that you served a lord from where you were from when we first met. Could you tell me about him?" Qrow asked out of curiosity.

Tyrell had been hesitant at first to answer for he did not want to give any valuable information away.

"Yes, of course. My Lord is a man of kindness, who cares for his subjects deeply and does his best to keep them all safe and happy." Tyrell said.

"Was he the next heir to the throne?" Qrow said remembering one time he had read a book about royalty in the kingdoms, and how bloodlines worked. It was a very boring book.

"Oh no, my Lord was not of royal blood. He was a commoner just as everyone else was." Tyrell replied.

"Then how was he appointed to be your lord?" Qrow inquired.

Tyrell had again been hesitant with his answer as he did not want to mention the Curse of the Undead to Qrow. "Just like the rest of us, he was given a… trial of sorts to see if he could withstand the harsh responsibilities and stress of ruling." Tyrell had told Qrow a half truth.

It was true that every Undead had been given the task to become more powerful, only to be used as fuel for the slowly fading First Flame. However, it was not supposed to be the task for an Undead to snuff out the flame and rule over man.

"All of you had to undergo the same trial? That sounds like a lot of competition." Qrow asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Even I was a part of it, but I had only been fifteen at the time that I was introduced to the trial. So it became much more of a challenge for me." Tyrell said as he lowered his head somewhat to look at the ground, remembering all the hardships he experienced as an Undead at such a young age.

"Fifteen? That seems a bit too young to become a lord don't you think?" Qrow asked.

Tyrell had nodded his head and responded, "Yes, I suppose so, but people were desperate to have a lord who could protect them from harm." He then continued with, "We all had the same goal, and some of us had gone as far as "thinning out" the competition." He finished sadly.

Taken slightly off guard by Tyrell's response, Qrow had pondered of what Tyrell had just said as they continued to walk.

' _To kill for power. Sounds all too familiar.'_ Qrow thought with a slight shake of his head. Wherever Tyrell was from, his home didn't seem all that different from the four kingdoms.

"Did your lord ever abuse his power?" Qrow asked.

Almost instantly Tyrell had answered with a strong, "No. He never had, and never used it to rule over his citizens as a tyrant." Qrow, realizing that it was time to ask a few other questions, had decided to move onto another subject.

"Do you know what Aura is?" Qrow asked.

"No." Tyrell simply stated.

With a sigh Qrow explained what Aura was to Tyrell.

"Aura is the manifestation of our very soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts." Qrow continued, "It is used to protect oneself from harm and danger. Depending on the individual, aura can be shown in many different ways. The strength of one's Aura depends on how well experienced, skilled, and trained they are." Qrow finished.

Tyrell had been utterly surprised at this Aura that humans of this world possessed. Tyrell then asked, "Is it possible for anyone to have an Aura?" Tyrell had wondered if he could possess such a power.

"Aura can be used by anything that has a soul, with enough practice of course. Only Humans and Faunus have the ability to control Aura, for we have a soul, whereas the Grimm have no soul." Qrow stated. Tyrell had heard the word "Faunus" but decided to ask about that later, for he was too enthralled with learning about Aura.

"Is it possible for me to unlock my own Aura?" Tyrell had questioned with a hint of excitement in his voice.

Qrow had looked back at Tyrell and answered, "Yes, but it would take weeks of practice and training to unlock it." Qrow told the knight. Qrow could have unlocked Tyrell's Aura right then and there, but he knew too little about him to trust him with Aura.

"I understand, maybe I can learn how once we reach Vale." Tyrell said.

"Perhaps." Was all Qrow said.

Qrow had looked up at the sky and noticed that it was beginning to rain as large grey clouds rolled over the sky. It would take them at least another two hours until they could reach Vale's outer wall.

Sighing Qrow said, "We're going to have to find a place to rest for a while until this storm clears up." Nodding Tyrell and Qrow sought shelter form the coming storm.

…

It had taken them ten minutes to find a small cave that went into the mountain. It had gone deeper, but Qrow advised against traveling further in case of Grimm. Setting up a small fire, both men waited in silence until Tyrell had asked another question.

"Tell me Qrow. What had made these Grimm?" Tyrell asked curious.

Qrow had looked down in thought as he pondered Tyrell's question. Coming to a conclusion Qrow responded, "No one knows of their origins. Some say that they had existed long before mankind came to walk this earth."

Accepting the answer Tyrell remained silent and had brought up one knee to rest his arm on. Looking outside Tyrell saw the pouring rain falling from the sky. It had made a soothing sound as it had hit the ground and Tyrell felt calm.

He knew that he could adventure out in the rain without the threat of his armor rusting since the metal used to craft all the armor in Lordran had been water resistant.

Tyrell had assumed that it was form the titanite material that was used to forge most armor.

He chose not to for it seemed that Qrow would like to avoid the rain if possible, and Tyrell was happy to comply with his guide's needs.

Hearing the sound of rainfall had put both men at ease and they had begun to drift off to sleep until they heard a low growl coming from deeper within the cave.

Both men rose and faced the direction of where the sound originated from.

Tyrell had noticed multiple pairs of glowing red eyes appear out of the darkness of the cave. Knowing that those eyes belonged to the Grimm creatures, Tyrell had readied his weapon.

To his left Qrow too had pulled out his own weapon. Tyrell had been wondering how the man protected himself from the creatures, and he was a little disappointed to see Qrow holding a thin rectangular box.

"You expect to go into battle wielding a box?" Tyrell had asked.

Looking over at Tyrell, Qrow smirked. Quickly transforming said "box" into a large scythe with a long curved blade, Qrow implanted the bladed end into the ground which made a loud cutting sound that echoed throughout the cave.

"If by "box" you mean a six foot long curved scythe blade, then yes, I will be going "into battle wielding a box." Qrow said finished as he looked back at the oncoming Grimm.

It appeared to be a pack of Beowolves that had been living inside the cave, and they just so happened to move in onto their territory.

Tyrell had been speechless as he saw the supposed "box" turn into a long, sharp, looking scythe. Its design was that of a basic scythe, but it also had looked like it had something else hidden in the weapon. Most of the weapon had been covered black, but Tyrell noticed red accents running along the handle.

Its blade was almost as long as the man himself. How it had transformed, Tyrell couldn't answer for the life of him, but it did explain how he didn't notice it when they had been traveling all this time.

Turning to the Grimm in front of him, Tyrell noticed that they we significantly smaller from the Ursa Grimm he had faced when he first arrived here on Remnant.

They appeared to be some sort of wolf like creature.

They had long extensive arms that were almost as long as their own bodies with four bone like spikes on the forearm, and one coming out the elbow.

Their claws were also spiked with the same bone material, and had looked like they could cut through lighter armor with ease.

Their heads had been covered with bone masks as the Ursa did and more bone spikes had run down along their spines. The glowing red eyes held hatred in them as the wolf like creatures began to charge the two humans.

Five of the wolves had charged at Qrow and Tyrell, three going for Qrow and the other two for Tyrell.

"Beowolves! Don't let them surround you, and mind the claws." Qrow warned as the first of the three Beowolves lunged at him.

Tyrell had taken the warning to heart as he raised his shield to block a claw swipe from the wolf on his left. Seeing that it was unsuccessful with the attack, the Beowulf lunged again and began to unleash a flurry of swipes to break the human's defense.

However, Tyrell's shield held firm and when the wolf reared its claw back for another swipe Tyrell back stepped away from the attack and avoided it.

As the wolf missed Tyrell saw his opportunity to strike as the wolf tried to recover from the missed attack. Charging the wolf back, Tyrell had thrusted his sword into the beast's chest until it reached the hilt of his sword.

Not stopping there, Tyrell used his strength to bring the sword upwards through the wolf's neck.

The fatal blow sprayed the Grimm's blood over Tyrell's armor, and colored it in a crimson color.

Pulling his sword clear of the body, Tyrell had faced down his other opponent. This one had not been as carless to rush in like its fellow wolf, and seemed to observe how Tyrell killed the other wolf.

Tyrell found this interesting as it would seem that this one was a little bit smarter than its brother. The Beowulf looked at Tyrell and instead of charging him, it began to circle around him to find a weakness in his defense.

Tyrell would not allow the wolf to find one as he too began to circle the wolf, but in the opposite direction.

Man and beast looked each other in the eye, as they both waited for the other to make the first move.

The Beowulf had grown impatient at the lack of movement from the human and decided to strike first.

Rearing both of its claws back to catch the human on either side, the Beowulf thought that it had its prey.

Unfortunalty for it, Tyrell saw an opportunity to strike his opponent down before it could execute its attack. Rearing his left arm back, Tyrell had brought it to the wolf's bone mask and punched it using his shield.

This caused the Beowulf to lose its balance from the strike and it collapsed right at the knight's feet.

The impact had left a crack in its mask, and the Beowulf had become enraged. Before it could do anything to harm the human, Tyrell had plunged his straight sword into the wolf's exposed neck killing it.

When Tyrell had finished off the Beowulf, he turned to see Qrow standing in the middle of multiple pieces of Grimm. All around him lay the chopped up remains of the Beowolves with some either cut in two, or fives.

Qrow had noticed Tyrell looking at him and asked, "What?"

"Nothing, I just have never seen a scythe wielded so effectively in my lifetime. You are quite skillful with that blade Qrow." Tyrell complimented him and Qrow smiled slightly.

"Thank you." Qrow said and then noticed Tyrell's armor was covered in Grimm blood. "Nice look. Makes you look like a demon." Qrow commented while smiling.

At first Tyrell was clueless to what he was referring to, but then he had looked down at himself and saw all the crimson blood covering his person. Lightly laughing, Tyrell responded in a fake depressed tone, "And I just had this washed yesterday too." Both men shared a laugh when they heard more growls and roars coming from within the cave.

"I think it's best if we leave. Now." Qrow said as he started to walk backwards toward the caves entrance. He knew that both he and Tyrell could handle the situation, but Qrow knew from experience that if a pack of Beowolves were in danger, other packs would come.

Tyrell understood that wolves traveled in packs and there would be many more, and they could overpower the two. Nodding to Qrow both turned towards the mouth of the cave and ran.

…

They had run through the rain for what felt like an eternity to Tyrell. They had made good distance from the cave when they heard the multiple howls of the wolves as they tried to find their prey.

Running through the rain had helped mask their scents and thankfully the wolves had given up and likely returned to their home.

They had continued in the direction of Vale, and Qrow could see the city far off in the distance. Smiling Qrow pointed out the city to Tyrell and it caused Tyrell to get excited. He would finally get to see the first kingdom of Remnant and hopefully learn more about the kingdom and its culture and history.

"Another hour of walking and then we will arrive at Vale." Qrow told Tyrell their estimated time of arrival. Nodding both men had started to walk down the hill they had been standing on when Tyrell noticed a faint shadow on the ground.

Looking around he could not spot the being that caused the shadow, but it was big. Deciding to look up, Tyrell witnessed the biggest Grimm that he has seen thus far.

The Grimm was around the size of a fully grown dragon. Its massive wings were spread out and allowed it to soar over the sky even when it was raining. Tyrell took note on how it resembled the crow of the old goddess of sin, Velka.

It had sharp three pointed talons that looked like it could easily snatch up a grown man. What Tyrell found strange however was that it had two clawed arms that rose from the middle of its wings.

' _Perhaps those are used for when it lands to attack its enemies.'_ Tyrell thought to himself.

Finally, the same bone like mask covered the upper part of its head with a small fin growing out of the top, where the lower part, where the beak was located, lacked the mask. Four glowing red eyes, two on each side, looked over the landscape in search of prey. It flew about three miles away.

"Qrow, what exactly is that Grimm called?" Tyrell had asked his guide. Qrow had looked at him with a puzzled look on his eyes.

"What Grimm Tyrell? I haven't seen or heard anything near our location for a while now." Qrow asked the knight wondering what he was talking about.

Tyrell then sighed and pointed up into the sky towards the giant black crow.

"There, that giant crow creature." Tyrell said. Qrow had followed the knight's finger until he noticed the Giant Nevermore flying in the sky. Seemingly getting closer to their position.

Turning to face Tyrell, Qrow responded, "That Tyrell is a Giant Nevermore, one of the most dangerous Grimm known to mankind to this day." He sounded as if it wasn't such a big deal to Tyrell.

Then remembering its position, Tyrell asked Qrow, "Do you think I could hit it?"

Qrow again gave Tyrell another puzzled look and asked, "Hit it? With what?"

"With my bow of course." Tyrell deadpanned.

"We have been traveling for about two days and I have not seen you once holding a bow, nor have one on you at all." Qrow said as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes slightly at Tyrell.

Giving another sigh Tyrell spoke, "I guess I will just have to show you."

"Okay, whatev-." Qrow then held his tongue as seemingly out of nowhere Tyrell had pulled out the largest bow he had ever seen. The bow stood taller than the knight, and Qrow, himself.

It had an intricate design to it with multiple carvings and depictions that Qrow could not describe. A circular iron stand was placed at the bottom of the bow to place it steadily on the ground.

The _string_ that would be used to fire off an arrow looked like it was made of some sort of bendable metal rope that was tight, but flexible.

Tyrell had anchored it to the ground and pointed it towards the Giant Nevermore's direction. Qrow was again speechless as Tyrell pulled out a large metal great arrow that looked like it could pierce through an Atlesian Paladin-290.

Tyrell had taken a deep breath as he began to pull the string back with the Dragon Slayer great arrow resting on the string.

Breaking out of his surprise and recovering his ability to talk, Qrow said, "I bet you 100 lien that you can't hit that oversized sack of feathers."

Not knowing what this "lien" was, Tyrell had answered, "I accept."

By this time the Nevermore had spotted the two humans and was beginning to make its way over to kill its prey and feast.

It noticed that one of the humans was holding a large stick of some sort and was looking at the Nevermore's direction.

Tyrell had taken another deep breath as he fully pulled back the string and took aim at the giant crow. It was heading straight towards them, but it was still two miles away if Tyrell had to guess.

The Nevermore drew closer and Qrow was inching his hand towards his scythe for when Tyrell did miss, and they would have to fight the large bird like Grimm.

For Tyrell time seemed to slow down as the movement of the Nevermore's wings went form a steady beat to barely faster than one of the slug beasts that resided in the Depths.

Focusing on the Nevermore's head Tyrell noticed that its beak began to open to announce its arrival to them, as a means to put fear into their hearts.

Just as it was open wide enough Tyrell had taken one final, sharp breath and released the Dragon Slayer great arrow.

For Qrow it had all happened so fast that he didn't even see Tyrell's hand release the great arrow.

Tyrell was standing still with his Greatbow drawn and the Giant Nevermore was inching closer towards their location. It had begun to open its beak to screech, but it never got the chance to do so.

In a flash Qrow barely saw the dark silver blur travel through the sky right towards the Giant Nevermore.

One second, it just opened its beak to screech. The next, the great arrow had imbedded itself into the Nevermore's head. The tip of the great arrow sticking out the top of its head in front of the fin.

The Giant Nevermore's whole body jerked slightly and it still flew for a few more seconds before it began its descent into the Forever Fall Forest below.

Qrow's jaw had become unhinged as the knight pulled off what he thought to be impossible. Qrow looked between Tyrell, who had now put the Greatbow onto his back, and the still falling Nevermore as it impacted the ground with a muffled thud.

Tyrell had looked at Qrow's confused face with one of his own since he didn't realize that he not only pulled off an impressive feat to kill a Giant Nevermore with one shot, but also that he just made Qrow lose 100 lien.

"What?" Tyrell questioned.

Qrow just looked at him and closed his jaw. Then he just started to walk away without another word. Shrugging, Tyrell followed.

…

They had met a few more of the Beowulf creatures as they continued their journey through the Forever Falls. Qrow had said little since Tyrell had killed the Giant Nevermore with his Dragon Slayer Greatbow, mumbling something about an "oversized piece of wood."

Tyrell ignored the man as they had finally arrived at the kingdom of Vale's outer wall. The walls themselves were quite impressive.

Massive stone walls stood at what appeared to be thirty to forty feet high up. Tyrell spotted what looked like guard towers along the walls, but he wasn't sure. He also noticed moss growing along the outside of the wall, likely due to being in place for years.

According to Qrow the walls had kept the Grimm out ever since it was built, and the kingdom had never had a breach to this day.

At the foot of the wall was a small outpost of sorts that held an entrance that would allow people access into or out of the kingdom. Tyrell saw a guard stationed behind a window reading some sort of paper.

Qrow had stepped up to the window and knocked a few times. The guard looked up and stated, "Please produce your scroll and place it under the scanner for identification."

Qrow then produced a small little white device from his pocket and did just as the guard had asked and a green light appeared above the scanner.

"You're clear. Move on through please." The guard said and Qrow walked up to the door, but waited by it for Tyrell.

Tyrell then began to become nervous as he did not know what this "scroll" was and did not have one on him. Tyrell just stood there as he pondered on what to do in the situation.

"Come on buddy, I don't have all day." The guard said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Um… I seemed to of misplaced my _scroll_ when I had left home sir, and do not currently have one." Tyrell lied since he didn't have one in the first place.

The guard narrowed his eyes slightly at Tyrell and said, "I'm sorry sir, but without a scroll for identification you will not be permitted entran-."

"He's with me." Qrow cut the man off and walked up to the window.

"Again I'm sorry sir, but without-." The guard was again cut off as Qrow pulled out a small black card that had the kingdom of Vale's symbol in the top right corner, with three green stripes moving horizontally across the card.

The guard saw it and his eyes widened as he quickly stated, "I'm so sorry sir. I did not know that you were a three star Hunter. Please forgive me." The guard looked nervous now that he knew that he was in the presence of a very deadly Hunter.

"Don't worry about it. Now open the door for me and my companion." Qrow said in a tone that spoke authority.

"With all due respect sir. It's against the council's laws to bring in an outsider without proper identification." The guard warned. Qrow then gave the man a look that could have scared off any small Drake.

"Door. Now." Qrow said in a deep low voice. Qrow didn't care for most of the council's laws and knew that if Tyrell proved to be a threat then he could take care of him.

The guard audibly gulped as he reached over and pressed a button on his console to open the door.

A beeping noise was heard and the light above the door went from red to green, signaling that it had been unlocked.

"Thank you. Come on Tyrell, it's time that I introduce you to Vale." Qrow said, his voice returning to normal, as he waved his hand in the knight's direction and Tyrell followed. The guard had a look of fear in his eyes as Tyrell walked passed him.

' _This is going to be_ interesting _.'_ Tyrell smiled under his helmet as he walked through the door and in the kingdom.

* * *

 **Okay, another chapter done. I enjoyed writing that scene with the Giant Nevermore. You know how in the game if you have two weapons in your right/left hand you can seemingly pull one out of nowhere and the other disappears? No? Well that's what inspired me to write that scene. Now I have decided to place this story at the beginning of RWBY volume 2. I want both teams RWBY and JNPR to have experience fighting in their teams. That is why the "Breach" hasn't occurred yet in Vale. Now I can't be sure yet, but we will be arriving at Beacon Academy either in the next chapter or the one following it. Thank you all again for reading and I will talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone. I am proud to announce that the story has reached over three thousand views. That is a great accomplishment and I could not have done it without all of you. So thank you all for the support. I have really enjoyed writing this story so far and have been watching both Volume 1 and 2 of RWBY to get a refresh of the combat and story.**

 **We will be arriving at Beacon this chapter and there will be a surprise at the end of the chapter that I am sure some of you will enjoy, or hate, I don't know but nonetheless onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Welcome to Beacon Academy: Part I**_

Tyrell had been an Undead once. He had slain many of his foes and died many times. He had faced down fearsome enemies like the small Drakes of the Valley of Drakes to the giant rats in the Depths. He had even faced the fearsome Hellkite Drake that guarded the bridge of the Upper Burgs. He helped in the invasion of Anor Londo as his Lord rose to power. Yes, being Undead had given many challenges to Tyrell, challenges that he overcame.

He was a strong knight who was the captain of the Knights of Omen for his tactical skills on the field of battle, and ability to lead his fellow knights.

Tyrell had faced many horrors and challenges in his life, but nothing could have prepared him for the situation that he was in now.

"You're going to have to let go when we land eventually, you know that right?" Qrow asked as he looked over at the knight holding onto his seat as if letting go would kill him.

"I- I am f-fine Qrow. Nothing t-that a k-knight such as m-myself can't handle." Tyrell stuttered as he looked at Qrow assuring him that he was fine.

After they had entered the kingdom of Vale's outer walls, they had come to a port of sorts. Qrow had told Tyrell that they would need to ride a "Bullhead" to reach the city of Vale, the kingdom's capital.

Tyrell questioned what this "Bullhead" was but Qrow simply looked at him with a smirk on his face and responded with, "You'll see soon enough."

Tyrell was utterly surprised and a little fearful, as a giant metal beast burst through the clouds and was heading straight for their position. Tyrell had raised his sword and shield to defend himself from the metal beast until he heard Qrow laughing.

Looking over at the man Tyrell was about to ask why he had not drawn his weapon to fight the metal beast, until it stopped right in front of them.

Just as Tyrell was about to attack the metal beast, Qrow placed a hand on his shoulder and told him that this was a "Bullhead."

"You expect me to allow myself to be eaten by a beast? You are mad." Tyrell told Qrow.

"It is not a living thing Tyrell, it is a piece of technology that mankind invented to make travel easier." Qrow said this as he knocked on the back of the Bullhead to indicate that it was not alive. He then boarded the Bullhead through the open door and gestured for Tyrell to follow.

The knight was still hesitant of entering the foreign metal beast despite seeing Qrow walk into it with ease.

The man then sighed as he said, "It's not going to eat you Tyrell. Now can you get on already, we need to get to the city before nightfall." Tyrell was still hesitant at first, but took a few steps forward closer to the metal beast.

Arriving at the door that Qrow used to enter it, Tyrell slowly placed one foot inside the flying metal beast, and then he fully got into the "Bullhead."

However, as he entered the thing he heard a distinct roar upon his entrance and said, "I knew that this thing wished to eat me! I will not give it the pleasure." Turning around to exit the same way he came in, Tyrell slammed into the side of the beast and stumbled backwards a bit.

After shaking his head, Tyrell looked up to see that the entrance that was once there had vanished. He was trapped inside the metal monster and would be eaten alive!

Then Qrow grabbed Tyrell by his right arm and told him, "Calm down Tyrell. This is a Bullhead, not some metal monster that will eat you. That sound you heard was just the engines prepping to take off. The Bullhead is not going to eat you. Now please, take your seat so you don't fall over."

Finally calming down, Tyrell had taken one of the seats that resided on the wall of the Bullhead. As he sat down he felt a lurch as the Bullhead lifted off into the air. That was when he grabbed the sides of his seat to hold on.

Qrow simply took the seat across from Tyrell and laughed a little and then asked, "I guess that from your village not many Bullheads come by?"

"Indeed. This is my first time riding a Bullhead." Tyrell answered as he calmed down somewhat, but still clung to his seat. "And hopefully my last." Tyrell mumbled under his breath.

"Well don't worry, you'll get used to riding in these eventually. Just be happy that you can't see the ground right now." Qrow assured Tyrell.

"The ground? How high up are we Qrow?" Tyrell questioned.

The man across from him scratched the back of his head, as if nervous, and responded, "About 30,000 feet in the air."

Silence fell between the two as Tyrell's grip on his seat grew tighter. He said, "Your right, I am not happy, but ecstatic that I cannot see the ground right now."

Qrow chuckled a bit and thought, _'This is going to be a long ride.'_

…

It had been a half hour, to Tyrell an eternity, when the city of Vale was in sight and they were a few minutes away from landing.

Tyrell had eventually let go of his seat to see the city and he was impressed at what he saw. Off in the distance he saw advanced buildings that looked like they could hold hundreds of citizens in each one. The building had a strange architecture that Tyrell couldn't explain, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

As they drew closer he could make out strange tubes supported by pillars that rose just above the buildings. He noticed what looked like metal snakes running along inside the tubes.

Throughout the skies he noticed more of the Bullheads travelling through the air, some landing while others took off.

Further off in the distance he noticed what appeared to be Bullheads, but different in shape and many more of them. He also took note of one of two gargantuan sized ships that dwarfed the others by comparison.

' _Something to inform my Lord about.'_ Tyrell made a mental note to himself to inform his Lord about these flying behemoths.

The ships seemed to be further up North, and Tyrell was glad that he would not have to worry about them for now.

"Qrow, what are we to do once we reach the city?" Tyrell asked the Hunter, curious to know what would happen now that Qrow finished escorting him the city.

Qrow looked over at Tyrell and answered, "Well as fun as it was, we will be parting ways once we arrive at Vale. I will be sending you over to an old friend of mine and he will decide what to do with you. He also has some questions he would like to ask you himself."

Qrow had received a response from Ozpin right after Tyrell had killed the Giant Nevermore and… regrettably lost 100 lien to the knight. He was to hand off Tyrell to Ozpin himself at the Bullhead port leading to Beacon Academy.

Tyrell did not like the fact that he would be left alone by the first human that he had come across, and trusted somewhat, so far on Remnant. He became nervous as he would become lost in the city without his guide. Tyrell would not be able to trust anyone and he would be alone.

Sensing his nervousness Qrow placed a hand on Tyrell's shoulder and said, "Hey don't worry, the one who wants to see you is a good man. He has done so much for me and I trust him with my life."

"Would you sacrifice your life for this man?" Tyrell questioned.

"Yes. I would gladly lay down my own life if it meant to save his." Qrow answered without a second thought. Tyrell took the answer and smiled underneath his helmet.

"This man, he seems a lot like my Lord. Please, what is this man's name Qrow?" Tyrell asked.

"His name is Ozpin, and you will be meeting him very shortly." Qrow said as they both looked back out the window of the pilot compartment at the city of Vale.

…

Tyrell had never been so happy to be back onto solid ground when they had landed. He thanked the old lords for keeping him safe on his ride on the Bullhead. They were currently walking through the city of Vale, and actually walking through the city made Tyrell even more impressed.

Seeing the buildings up close made Tyrell speechless at the architecture put into every detail.

Long black poles held glass at the top. Tyrell had asked Qrow what was the purpose of them and he told him that they were "Light posts" that lit up at night to provide light so people could see in the dark.

They walked across a black street of some sort where more metal beasts roamed. These ones however seemed to only stay on the ground and still held the same purpose of the Bullheads of transportation. Qrow had called them "Cars."

Despite being impressed by all the architecture around Tyrell, he felt nervous since he was getting many odd looks from other citizens as both he and Qrow passed by. He could feel their eyes on him and he would be lying if he said that it didn't unnerve him a little.

Tyrell too looked at the citizens with a puzzled look. They all wore strange attire that he had never seen before. Some men and women walked around in what appeared to be a shirt with the sleeves cut sort, along with pants that were blue. He saw a few women with blouses and men with fancy attire, but nothing like the rags that many citizens from his kingdom wore.

It seemed that humans of this world were both more advanced in technology and had improved their fashion.

They had come across a fountain of sorts that showed an angel pouring water into the base as they walked through a small courtyard filled with stone pavement and green grass. Tyrell even saw a few trees throughout the courtyard.

They had continued walking when they had reached a very busy port that housed both small and large Bullheads.

"Well here we are Tyrell, the Vale Airport that handles all the travels to and from other kingdoms, and Beacon Academy." Qrow said.

"Beacon Academy?" Tyrell said with confusion in his voice.

"It is the most advanced Academy that trains the next generation of Hunters and Huntresses. There are others in the other kingdoms, but this one is by far the best." Qrow explained.

"Where is this Ozpin fellow that you mentioned on the Bullhead? I would like to make his acquaintance as soon as possible." Tyrell asked.

"He should be arriving here shortly, but in the meantime how about you sit on that bench over there to wait for him." Qrow pointed over at an empty bench that looked like it could hold two people.

"Thank you Qrow. Were it not for you I might still be roaming around in that crimson forest. I know that it is not much in return, but here." Tyrell reached into his pocket and withdrew five Prism Stones and placed them in Qrow's hand. They gave off the colors of red, yellow, violet, white, and silver. Qrow looked down at the stones and then back at Tyrell.

"I will accept these, but do not worry about trying to repay me further. It is my duty as a Huntsman to help those in need. I need to get back to my mission now, but I wish you luck Tyrell." Qrow said as he turned around to walk away when Tyrell placed a hand on his shoulder.

"By the way Qrow, you can keep your 100 lien." Tyrell said and let go of the man's shoulder. Qrow looked back at the knight and chuckled as he continued walking away. Tyrell tried to see the man off, but he disappeared into the crowd, lost among the hundreds of people trying to get to their destination.

Sighing, Tyrell walked over to the still empty bench and waited for this man Qrow spoke of, Ozpin.

Despite the commotion of people walking to and from the landing Bullheads, Tyrell had tuned them out and sat there in thought. It had been almost an hour since Qrow left and Tyrell was beginning to wonder when Ozpin was going to show up to meet the knight.

' _My Lord will be happy to hear about all of this.'_ Tyrell looked up at all the citizens, Bullheads, and buildings and couldn't wait for his Lord's next call.

Then a thought troubled him, ' _The way he looked when I told him of the Light that humanity holds in this world. Could it be that my Lord fears the Light? When he arrives on this world, will he seek to destroy it? No. My Lord is strong and kind hearted. He would not harm the innocent, even if they are not of his kingdom. My Lord, the future of our kingdom is looking bright and filled with hope for our people.'_ Tyrell had been so absorbed in thought that he had failed to notice the man sitting right next to him.

His attire reminded Tyrell that of what a rich man would wear to a ball or important meeting.

Clad in all green, from varying shades of dark to light, the man wore a dark green overcoat that was unbuttoned to reveal an even darker green undershirt that was buttoned down. A light green sweater vest lay underneath the buttoned shirt and seemed to be tucked into his dark green pants. The sweater vest was curled up at the neck and had a small grey emblem in the middle of it.

Then Tyrell looked at the man himself. He had snowy grey hair that covered his head, and looked ruffled up slightly, but didn't extend past his neck. Despite having grey hair, the man's face was fairly young, but looked a little older than Tyrell himself. He wore small green glasses that stayed at the bridge of his nose, and his eyes were that of a pale brown.

The man seemed to be holding a mug of some sorts in his left hand while his right rested atop his lap. There Tyrell noticed a grey cane with a silver hilt that had a strange design to it. Tyrell also saw how it had a small handle attached to the silver hilt.

' _Why would a cane need a handle? Maybe it is his weapon perhaps?'_ Tyrell thought to himself as he observed the man sitting right next to him.

As if reading Tyrell's thoughts the man said, "This cane has been my weapon for many years. It has served me well throughout my time as a Hunter."

Tyrell, being caught off guard by the man's ability to answer his thoughts, starred at him for a moment in silence. His voice was calm yet held an air of authority to it. Tyrell then asked, "You were a Hunter once?"

Smiling, Ozpin responded, "I still am. My name is Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy." Tyrell was again surprised that the man sitting next to him was the Ozpin that Qrow had mentioned.

"How did you know where I would be waiting?" Tyrell questioned the Headmaster.

"Well, your choice of armor doesn't exactly blend in with the crowd." Ozpin said as he gestured to Tyrell's Silver Knight armor.

Looking down at himself, Tyrell awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck for asking such a foolish question.

"I guess you would be correct there Headmaster Ozpin." Tyrell said.

"Please, call me Ozpin, formalities aren't needed here." Ozpin told Tyrell. "May I ask you your name?" Ozpin asked.

"Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel, knight of the Ashen Lord, pleased to make your acquaintance, Ozpin." Tyrell stood up and bowed slightly to the Headmaster.

"Ahh, a knight, Qrow mentioned that you were one. What family do you come from?" Ozpin asked with a slight interest.

The Undead curse had eradicated all of Tyrell's memories of his life before he became Undead. Still wanting to keep the curse a secret, he lied, "I was told that I was the last of my family. The rest had all perished when Grimm attacked our village when I was a mere infant. I was raised by my fellow knights, and grew up to be a fine warrior under my Lord."

Ozpin narrowed his eyes somewhat while Tyrell told how he was brought up. Tyrell didn't think anything of it as he finished telling his false tale.

"I'm sorry." Ozpin said, apparently believing Tyrell's lie.

"There is no need to apologize Ozpin. It was not your fault." Tyrell said.

"Well now that introductions are out of the way. I suppose that we should be heading over to Beacon now." Ozpin said as he stood up from the bench and started walking towards an awaiting Bullhead.

Tyrell understood, the evening had arrived and the sun would be setting within the hour, so it would be best to head there to talk.

Tyrell followed Ozpin until he arrived at the foot of the awaiting Bullhead and stopped.

Seeing this Ozpin said, "Something the matter Tyrell?"

"No, it's nothing. It's just that I didn't expect to be riding on one of these _things_ again so soon." Tyrell answered as he slowly stepped into the waiting Bullhead.

Ozpin took a sip from the mug that he was carrying, a brown liquid that swayed with the movement waited inside the mug. Tyrell just made out the hint of a smile from the corners of Ozpin's mouth as he drank his beverage.

When he had finished taking a long sip of his coffee Ozpin asked, "I take it that this is your second time riding in a Bullhead?"

"Yes, where I am from we have never seen one of these machines before. We are a _very_ secluded village. That is why my Lord had commanded me to venture out and find help. Our village is starting to succumb to a famine that has dried up all the crops and has drained most of the water." Tyrell half-lied as he answered Ozpin.

"Well, I am sorry to hear that. Maybe Vale can help your village and you can return the favor in the future." Ozpin offered to Tyrell.

"It is not my decision, but that of my Lord's. I will have word with him in due time." Tyrell told Ozpin.

' _With the black flame that Qrow informed me about? Possibly.'_ Ozpin thought to himself as he saw Beacon in the distance.

"We will be arriving at our destination shortly." Ozpin said as he pointed his cane towards the window that allowed one to see Beacon Academy.

Tyrell followed the man's cane and soon enough he saw the Academy off in the distance. What he could see so far was what looked like a castle. In fact, it reminded Tyrell of Anor Londo before it was burned to the ground. There were multiple small towers that all surrounded one tall tower that stood above the rest. Green lights emitted from the tallest tower and Tyrell found that strange, but he didn't question Ozpin about it.

Tyrell could also make out a court yard where more of the Light posts were on either side of the pathway leading up to the main building itself. The whole Academy was on top of a great Cliffside where a magnificent waterfall ran down to the ocean below. A vast and lush green forest was behind the Academy and only made the sight more amazing.

They were still two to three miles away from the Academy and the buildings looked rather big. They would be even larger once they arrived.

"This Beacon is glorious Ozpin. How did you come to be the Headmaster of such a fine Academy?" Tyrell asked Ozpin.

"Being a Hunter has its perks, Tyrell." Ozpin stated as he smiled at Tyrell's compliment to his school.

"Once we arrive there Tyrell, I will be taking you to my office so we can discuss a few things regarding your stay in Vale." Ozpin said. Tyrell felt a little uneasy about the questioning, and how he would keep his secret of not being of this world from the Headmaster.

"Yes, of course Ozpin." Tyrell responded.

…

After they had landed the sun had nearly set and Tyrell could see stars starting to peek out of the now orange/violet sky. The sight before him had rendered Tyrell in a state of awe.

Where he had spotted the courtyard, trees and bushes covered both sides, and small pools of water were on either side of the courtyard as well. Large walls surrounded the front of the school with hollowed out archways. Tyrell assumed that they were for decoration rather than defense.

Tyrell was so distracted by the architecture and size of the Academy that he didn't realize that they had walked up to a fountain of sorts that stood in front of the Academy.

The fountain itself was rather bland, but the statue in the middle of it caught Tyrell's eye. In the middle of the fountain stood a life size stone sculpture of two figures, one male and the other female. The male had a sword drawn and held it high above his head, pointing it up at the sky. The female figure had planted a battle axe into the ground and was standing right behind the male figure.

Both wore what appeared to be leather armor with hoods that went over their heads. Tyrell had looked down at the foot of the statue and saw a creature a Grimm, a Beowulf, at the base of the statue.

To Tyrell it depicted humanity's triumph over the Grimm, and the sword that rose into the air signified hope to the knight.

Tyrell continued to look at the statue as Ozpin walked right next to him and said, "Humanity has made many triumphs against the Grimm, but have also suffered many losses as well. Villages overrun and territory lost, but this statue shows humanity's resolve to face the Grimm threat head on and to never give up. It gives the next generation of Hunters and Huntresses hope that one day we can reclaim what we had lost." Tyrell turned to the man for a second as he finished and then looked back at the statue.

' _Just as we had done. Our Lord purged us of the curse and gave us what we had lost when the old Lord linked the Fire… our humanity and the ability to finally die human.'_ Tyrell thought.

"Headmaster Ozpin!" A feminine voice called out and had driven Tyrell away from his thoughts. Both men turned to see a woman with bright blonde hair coming at them with a scowl on her face.

As Tyrell observed her he noticed that she was wearing a white long sleeved shirt, with the sleeves rolled up just before the elbow, and wore some sort of button up black pants. He also saw how she had a purple cape of sorts that looked like tendrils were hanging down the ends.

She wore glasses and held some sort of crop in her right hand. Her heels clicking against the ground with each step she made as she neared the two.

"Is there a problem Glynda?" Ozpin asked his blonde assistant that seemed to be giving the Headmaster the death stare.

"Problem?! You just up and leave the Academy without informing me first, then you are gone nearly all day and have been ignoring my calls, and…" She then noticed Tyrell standing next to Ozpin and continued, "You brought back a stranger?" She questioned while keeping a stern face while looking up at Tyrell.

Tyrell looked down at the woman, Glynda, as she questioned Ozpin. The woman spoke with authority and discipline as she addressed the knight.

"Who are you and why are you on Beacon Academy property?" Glynda asked the stranger in front of her. It sounded more like an order rather than a question.

"Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel, knight of the Ashen Lord. I was brought her by the Headmaster himself." Tyrell answered with a calm, voice and asked, "And you madam?"

Glynda was slightly taken aback to being addressed formerly, but she didn't show it as she said, "Glynda Goodwitch. But you will refer to me as Miss. Goodwitch." Tyrell nodded and thanked her as she turned to Ozpin.

"Now Glynda, I know you are upset, but I had urgent business to attend to. Qrow had informed me of some important _information_ that needed my immediate attention." Tyrell did not see it but Ozpin had shifted his eyes to Tyrell for a brief second to let Glynda know that it had to do with the knight. "I deeply apologize for my actions Glynda and I hope that you will forgive me."

Taking a deep sigh Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose and responded, "It is fine Ozpin, but please inform me when you are leaving Beacon in the future. With the second semester stating tomorrow the students will be riled up as it is, and a missing Headmaster would not help."

"Thank you Glynda. Now Tyrell if you would please come with me to my office so we can discuss your stay in Vale." Ozpin said as he faced the knight.

"Of course, Ozpin. Lead the way." Nodding all three left the courtyard and went inside the Academy.

…

When they had entered Beacon, Tyrell had not seen much as the way to Ozpin's office was rather short. They had arrived at an elevator that took them up to the top of the large tower.

Tyrell had to grab a side railing as he was not used to being so high up off the ground as they ascended to the top.

When they exited the elevator Tyrell saw a small desk that sat to the left of two shining metal doors. The doors opened by themselves that allowed them to access the Headmaster's office.

' _What sorcery is this?'_ Tyrell thought as he walked through the doors and into the office.

What Tyrell saw was an expansive circular office. The ceiling was made of glass and had gears spinning and moving above the glass.

' _Is this an office or a clock?'_ Tyrell thought to himself as he had seen gears used in clocks before in Lordran, but only a few existed. Towards the back of the office was a desk unlike any Tyrell had ever seen.

It had a strange 'C' shape to it, but it was more stretched out and the ends curved slightly. Tyrell noticed turning gears inside the desk and even the chair seemed to be made of gears.

' _Strange… very strange.'_ Tyrell thought to himself.

Behind the desk was a window that was the back face of a large clock.

"Your office is very… interesting Ozpin." Tyrell complimented. The whole place just seemed strange to Tyrell.

"Thank you. Please, take a seat." Ozpin gestured to one of two seats that were in front of his desk. Tyrell took the seat to his right and thanked Ozpin.

"Before we begin Ozpin, is it alright if Miss. Goodwitch is here to hear this?" Tyrell questioned as he looked over at the blond woman standing behind Ozpin to his right. Her eyes narrowed when Tyrell asked his question, but Ozpin waved her off.

"I trust Miss. Goodwitch to be here, and in time you will too." Ozpin assured Tyrell.

"Then let us begin." Tyrell said as he leaned back into his seat slightly, surprised at how comfortable it felt.

"Good. Now my first question for you is why were you in Forever Falls where Qrow found you?" Ozpin asked.

"As I had told you before, my village had come down with a famine that has killed off all our supplies of food and most of our water. The land there has become too hard to live off of." Taking a pause Tyrell then continued, "What I did not tell you however, was that now my Lord seeks a new home for his people and has sent me to find one." Tyrell finished and waited for Ozpin's next question.

"I see, but how could the people of your village possibly move? Surely they would need supplies to make the long journey to one of the four kingdoms." Ozpin said.

"My Lord has… a plan to move our people to a new home." Tyrell knew of the portal that he used to arrive on Remnant, but could his Lord safely move everyone in the Burgs to this world?

"And could you inform me of this "plan" that your lord came up with?" Ozpin asked.

"I am sorry, but my Lord has not even told me of his plan to save our village." Tyrell said as he looked down for a brief second wondering what the "plan" actually was.

"Well, I cannot say that the Council will spend many resources to help a village, but I will inform them about the problem." Ozpin said.

"Thank you Ozpin. What is your next question?" Tyrell asked.

"You are welcome Tyrell. I have never seen armor like that before in my lifetime and I don't recall ever seeing it in any textbooks that I have ever read. Can you tell me why I have never seen it before?" Ozpin narrowed his eyes, awaiting Tyrell's response.

Tyrell tensed up somewhat at Ozpin's question. It would be harder to lie about his armor since Ozpin has apparently seen many forms of armor custom to this world.

After a few moments had passed, Tyrell had finally come up with a valid lie.

"You see Ozpin, the land that my village was built upon had an old mine inside one of the mountains that led us to find a new substance. The material we found we called titanite. A lot like normal iron and steel, but much more durable and stronger. It allowed our knights to fight off the Grimm without much bodily harm." Tyrell finished his lie and looked into Ozpin's narrowed eyes.

"Hmm… I have never heard of this "titanite" before, but it sounds powerful. You said "without much bodily harm," why did your fellow knights not just use their Aura to defend themselves?" Ozpin continued with his questions.

"Since our village was so secluded from the outside world, none of our people ever discovered our own Aura and we had to rely on armor to defend ourselves." Tyrell finished.

Glynda had a small look of surprise on her face when she heard the news of Tyrell's village, her eyebrows were raised slightly, but she quickly put back on the stern mask that she wore when talking to students or strangers.

Ozpin didn't show any type of reaction at all and this had made Tyrell wonder, _'Did they see through my lie?'_

"Well I have never heard of an entire village not unlocking their Aura, but I guess that being very secluded for so long might cause that. Your fellow knights must be very powerful to be able to fight off Grimm without their Aura unlocked." Ozpin said.

"Yes, both my fellow knights and I are very strong and have been able to hold back the Grimm for years. Is there any more questions Ozpin?" Tyrell asked.

"Yes, but only a few more. Qrow had mentioned that you had implemented Dust into your weapon when you fought an Ursa Major. He said that it looked like yellow lightning was shooting out of it and cut through the Ursa's bone plated hide with ease. Care to explain how you did that?" Ozpin questioned.

"To my people that was the use of a miracle. We do not use Dust in any of our weapons." Tyrell told the truth this time.

Both Glynda and Ozpin looked at the knight with a confused look on their face, and then Ozpin spoke, "Miracles? Could you please explain?"

"Of course. Miracles are the art of calling upon an ancient deity or god for power. Miracles can be used either to heal injuries, or to be used in battle. As Qrow saw, I called upon the ancient God of War to cast the legendary Sunlight Blade." Tyrell finished explaining and saw how Glynda narrowed her eyes so much that they looked like slits, and Ozpin had one brow raised in confusion.

"I'm not sure how I feel about that answer, but regardless Qrow told me that you could handle yourself well on the battle field and how you apparently "one shot a Giant Nevermore", as Qrow put it." Ozpin said. "How exactly did you pull that off?" He asked.

Sighing, Tyrell stood up from his seat and took a step backwards as he apparently pulled out his Dragon Slayer Greatbow out of nowhere, again.

Glynda took a few steps back in surprise at the size of the bow, and Ozpin held a smile on his face as he looked at the weapon.

Tyrell positioned his bow so that it stood tall in one hand while he pulled out a Dragon Slayer Great arrow from his pouch.

"This is what I shot the Giant Nevermore with." Tyrell said lifting up both the Greatbow and arrow with ease.

"Where on Remnant did that come from?" Glynda broke her silence as she looked at the massive weapon.

"Did you not see it upon my back Miss. Goodwitch?" Tyrell questioned as Ozpin's smile grew wider.

"Unless if it was invisible, then no, I didn't see it on your back." Glynda said in an annoyed voice.

Chuckling softly, Ozpin said, "Please Tyrell, take your seat back." Complying with the Headmaster, Tyrell took his seat again in front of the Headmaster. Laying both his Greatbow and arrow onto the side of the desk, Tyrell waited for Ozpin to ask his next question.

"Tyrell, after hearing from Qrow about your skills on the battlefield, your plea for help for your village, and the use of your… miracles, I have one final question to ask you." Ozpin said.

"Go ahead Ozpin, ask me your question." Tyrell said as he leaned back into the comfortable chair.

"Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel, how would you like to work at Beacon Academy?"

* * *

 ***BOOM* Surprise! I bet you guys and gals didn't see that coming. Were you expecting, "Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel, how would you like to** _ **attend**_ **Beacon Academy as one of my students?" Well? I had this planned for a while now. Although Tyrell is twenty and very young still, I feel that he would be a better mentor to the good students of Beacon.**

 **Now I will say this, he won't have his own class for two reasons. One, I don't think that he really has anything different to offer in combat, and Glynda had that covered already. Two, I was too lazy to actually think of a class that he could teach, my bad. Instead he will be assisting one of the teachers of Beacon. Now which one you will see in the next chapter. Also, we will finally be seeing team RWBY next chapter, and probably JNPR too, but I'm not sure yet.**

 **Thank you all for reading and I will talk to you all in the next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well hello everyone! I can't believe how far we have come in such a short time. Fifty four followers, forty three favorites, and over four thousand views! I appreciate all of the support and reviews that you all have been leaving for this story. Thank you all so much for the kind words and needed criticism to help make this story better. I will talk to you all at the end of the chapter.**

 **Now onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Welcome to Beacon Academy: Part II**_

Ozpin's office was silent. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Tyrell looked at the Headmaster from behind his helmet's visor with confusion. Ozpin starred back into Tyrell's black visor, waiting for an answer. Glynda had a look that seemed to be a mixture of confusion, anger, and a slight hint of fear.

"You wish to employ me? Here at your own academy?" Tyrell asked, and thus breaking the silence.

"Yes. You have proven yourself to Qrow through your combat against the Grimm, and you are in need of help for your village. To gain Qrow's respect is very hard to attain, and to of killed two powerful Grimm in less than two days is quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself." Ozpin said as he took a sip from his Beacon mug.

"But Ozpin, I have never taught anyone before, let alone a whole class." Tyrell stated.

"You will not be teaching anyone actually, but rather you will be assisting the staff of Beacon in their own classes. Since you are well trained in combat I am afraid that there is nothing that you could offer the students with a class of your own. Glynda here is already the teacher of the Combat classes here at Beacon." Ozpin said as he gestured in Glynda's direction.

Tyrell took a deep sigh and then responded, "I may be a skilled knight in combat Ozpin, but wouldn't I be a tad too young to be working at an academy such as this, teacher or assistant?"

"Well, how old are you Tyrell? If you do not mind me asking." Ozpin said.

"Not at all, I am currently twenty years old." Tyrell answered.

"Well that seems an appropriate age to at least assist a teacher. Wouldn't you agree Glynda?" Ozpin asked as he looked at his assistant and lifelong friend.

Glynda was silent for a few moments as she thought of her response. Then, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, she responded, "I… suppose that age is acceptable to _assist_ a teacher, but I find him still a little too young."

Shrugging off Glynda's last remark, Ozpin said, "See? Your age is fine to be working here, and you have more than enough combat skill."

"May I ask you a question Ozpin?" Tyrell asked.

"You may." Ozpin responded.

"Why not enroll me here instead as a student here at your academy?" Tyrell asked.

"As I said, you have more than enough combat skills by yourself, and I feel that you would outshine our first and even our second year students. Also, the starting age of a first year student is seventeen, and you are three years ahead of that age." Ozpin answered.

"I see." Tyrell said understanding.

"Another thing Tyrell, you would be paid for this job and will be provided a room to live in as long as you work for Beacon, and this could help you in the future with your village." Ozpin added.

' _This offer is valuable, but what of my Lord? How would he react if he found out that I might work for this man?'_ Tyrell thought to himself. _'However… to have a position such as this will allow me not only to gather more information for my Lord, but I will also have a place to stay until my Lord arrives.'_

Coming to a decision Tyrell said, "I accept your offer Ozpin." This drew a small smile form the man in front of Tyrell. Glynda, however, frowned and a look of worry filled her eyes that Tyrell saw.

"You made a good decision Tyrell. I think that you will find working at Beacon will provide a… unique experience. Tomorrow is the first day of the second semester, and you will begin your first day then. The staff member that you will be assisting tomorrow will be Miss. Goodwitch." Ozpin said.

Silence filled the room again as Glynda turned to look at Ozpin with a hard glare.

"Headmaster Ozpin, I have too many duties to attend to tomorrow, and I cannot look after this man all day, let alone give him a tour of the entire Academy!" Glynda said with a stern voice.

"Which is my point exactly Glynda. You have a lot to do tomorrow and our new addition to the staff will need a tour. Since he starts tomorrow, why not have him help you with your duties, and in return you will give him a tour of Beacon." Ozpin said.

Glynda was about to retort when she fell silent as she realized that it would be more productive to have the knight assist her with her classes and managing the students. Splitting the work, and in return she would only have to give the man a tour.

Taking a small sigh, she responded, "Fine. I will take him on a tour of Beacon tomorrow." Then turning to Tyrell, "In exchange you will help me fulfill my tasks that I must complete."

Nodding, Tyrell said, "I will be happy to assist you Miss. Goodwitch. I am eager to begin my work for you Ozpin. You mentioned that living quarters would be provided for me. Where will I be staying Ozpin?" Tyrell asked.

"Since all the living spaces for the staff are already occupied, I am afraid you will have to settle for one of the student dorm rooms." Ozpin said.

"No worries Ozpin, I understand. Space is limited, and you did not expect to have an extra guest." Tyrell said.

"Thank you for understanding. It seems that our chat has taken up quite a lot of time." Ozpin stated. Tyrell looked behind the man and saw that through the clock face that the sky had become dark and filled with stars. The shattered moon lay up high in the sky, coving the land in its pale light.

"If you would Tyrell, please take the elevator down to the main lobby and wait there. I will send Miss. Goodwitch down in a minute to show you to your dorm room shortly. I just have a few things to discuss with her in private." Ozpin said to Tyrell.

Nodding, the knight stood up from the chair that he had preoccupied and made his way to the sliding doors that let him access to the Headmaster's office previously. Before reaching the doors however, Tyrell turned around and said, "Thank you Ozpin for this offer. This will help me on my mission greatly."

At that Tyrell walked through the doors and vanished from sight. Ozpin waited until he heard the sound of the elevator moving downwards until he turned to Glynda to speak.

"Did you receive the message from Qrow that I sent to you?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes Ozpin. This "black flame" that Qrow saw, will it become a danger to the students?" Glynda asked with concern for the well being of Beacon's many young students.

"Honestly, I don't know what type of threat it poses, but we must find more information about it. I believe that our new staff member is hiding something from us, and that secret could prove deadly." Ozpin responded.

"Then why offer him a job at Beacon then if we don't know what threat this man will pose?" Glynda asked with the same stern voice she had used earlier.

"As dangerous as it sounds, it is safer to keep him here where we can keep a close eye on him. We couldn't have left him alone to his own devices, or worse, someone else might have found him." Ozpin said as he took another sip from his mug.

"Someone else? Who?" Glynda asked.

"The White Fang perhaps. If they got a hold on that flame, who knows what could have happened." Ozpin said in a lower voice.

Glynda's eyes widened at the thought of what might have happened if the White Fang did get a hold of the mysterious flame.

"Your right Ozpin, this is the best option that we have, but still I am worried of the safety of the students." Glynda said.

"Do not worry Glynda, if Tyrell proves to be a threat to Beacon or the students, then he will be detained." Ozpin assured his close friend as she had a look of worry on her face.

"I trust you Ozpin. As I always have." Glynda said.

"Thank you Glynda for understanding. This will also allow us to observe Tyrell further, and possibly find out more about him. For now I want you to go and take him to his dorm. Tomorrow, keep a close eye on him and have him help you with your classes. I am sorry to have burdened you with more work Glynda." Ozpin instructed.

"No need for apologies Ozpin. I am a Huntress, and it is my duty to protect the young and weak, even if that means that I must dawn more work." Glynda said as she gave Ozpin one of her rare smiles.

Smiling back, Ozpin said, "Thank you Glynda. Now head down. I believe that our new staff member has waited long enough and wants to retire for the night."

"As you say, Headmaster." With that Glynda walked away from Ozpin and right out of his office.

Leaning back in his chair, Ozpin pulled out his Scroll and looked at the picture that Qrow had taken of the black flame. It was from far away, so it was a little hard to make out, but from years of being a Huntsman his eyes had grown sharp.

Ozpin could see the back of Tyrell's form. He saw that Tyrell had light brown hair tied back into a small ponytail, but with his back turned to him, Ozpin could not see his face.

Tyrell was kneeling down and held something in his left hand, but Ozpin knew that it was the black flame. However, he could only see some of it due to Tyrell blocking it with his body, but Ozpin saw it regardless. It had a chalky white outline that seemed to move like any other normal flame, but the rest of it was darker than that of a Grimm's hide.

It seemed to eat the light around it, but at the same time it presented an eerie glow that made Ozpin shudder a little.

What caught Ozpin's attention however was what seemed to be an image in the black flame. The picture was slightly distorted and far away, but Ozpin could just make out an image of an arm.

The arm was pure white and looked just like a human's. However, the arm was pure white, and like the outline of the flame, moved like a fire normally would.

' _Is Tyrell talking to someone? And if so, then who?'_ Ozpin thought to himself.

Knowing that there was nothing left to see in the picture, Ozpin put his Scroll away and turned his chair until he was facing the back of the clock face.

"What secret are you hiding Tyrell?" Ozpin asked to himself as he gazed into the night sky.

…

Tyrell was currently being led by Miss. Goodwitch through a maze of hallways to his soon to be living quarters.

' _Honestly, how do the students navigate through this labyrinth?'_ Tyrell thought.

When Miss. Goodwitch came down in the elevator she had told Tyrell that she would lead him to his dorm room. That was ten minutes ago, and they were still walking in silence.

Deciding to strike up a conversation Tyrell said, "I assume that all the students are asleep?"

Without stopping Glynda said, "All students are required to return to their dorm rooms after the curfew hour of 10:00pm." Glynda responded. "However, there are those who decide to sneak out and disobey the rules."

"I see. Ozpin said that you are the Combat instructor of Beacon, correct?" Tyrell asked.

"That is correct. Why do you ask?" Glynda asked back as they turned down another corridor.

"Forgive my rudeness, but you do not look like the kind of person to be teaching Combat, but rather a librarian." Tyrell answered. At this Glynda turned her head just enough to see the knight in the corner of her vision.

"I will have you know that I am perfectly capable of teaching combat maneuvers and tactics to the students here at Beacon. I am a Huntress with years of experience and I have seen my fair share of fighting." Glynda said in a stern voice as she turned her head back forward.

"I did not mean to offend. My apologies Miss. Goodwitch." Tyrell apologized and kept silent as they turned one last corner and arrived at a long hallway with doors on both sides.

They walked down the hallway and Tyrell decided to look at the doors. They were nothing special, just plain white coated with a gold trim around the frame. Each door had a plaque on the top and each plaque was inscribed with four letters. Each door had different letters arranged in different ways.

"Miss. Goodwitch, what is the purpose of these letters upon the doors?" Tyrell asked.

As they continued to walk Glynda answered, "Those letters are the first initial of each team member, and they make up the team's name."

"Teams?" Tyrell said curiously.

"Yes, teams. Here at Beacon we assign first year students into four man teams that they will be in for their entire time here at Beacon. This allows the students to build bonds with their teammates and become stronger together, rather than alone. Every team is assigned a leader to guide and protect them. Whether it is through assignments or actual missions." Glynda explained.

As they were nearing the end of the hallway, Tyrell took another look at some of the doors. On his left he read a plaque with the letters spelling out "R-W-B-Y," and to his right another read "J-N-P-R."

' _Teams RWBY and JNPR. Both those names sound nice.'_ Tyrell thought to himself as they finally arrived at a door at the very end of the hallway. It seemed further away from the rest of the dorm rooms and the door held no plaque on it.

"Here we are. Sir Tyrell, this will be your new living quarters for as long as you work here at Beacon. Ozpin has told me that you will be receiving a new Scroll in the coming week. Once you receive it you can use it to unlock your door to your room, or lock it instead. You are expected to be by my classroom by 8:00am sharp so I may inform you about what you will be doing to assist me in my teachings." Glynda instructed as she moved her own Scroll across a small screen on the door to unlock it. "Now do you have any questions?"

Shaking his head, Tyrell responded, "No Miss. Goodwitch, and thank you for guiding me to my dorm. I surely would have been lost if not for you."

"There is no need to thank me Sir Tyrell. Just remember to be by my classroom by 8:00am tomorrow." Glynda said while looking into the knight's visor.

"Do not worry Miss. Goodwitch, I will not fail you." Tyrell said with a slight bow of his head.

Nodding Glynda started to make her way back down the hallway that she led Tyrell down.

"Have a good night Miss. Goodwitch. May you sleep well." Tyrell said.

This caused Glynda to stop walking and turned her head back until she saw the knight.

"Thank you… you as well." Glynda responded as she quickly walked down the hallway and was gone.

Turning to his door Tyrell took hold of the door handle and entered the room.

As he opened the door he saw a medium sized room that held only one bed that layed right next to a window. Since there were no curtains, moonlight filled the room.

Closing the door behind him, Tyrell walked up to the window and saw the shattered moon raised high above the clouds surrounded by stars.

Tyrell looked down and saw that he had a nice view of a small courtyard that lead out towards other parts of Beacon. He also saw the large tower where Ozpin's office was located and where he was not too long ago.

Turning away from the window, Tyrell looked around the room some more. He saw a dresser opposite his bed and a small desk was positioned opposite of the window.

A closet was next to the dresser, and a small nightstand was next to the bed with a lamp of sorts on it.

As Tyrell was looking around his new living space, he felt the movement of the humanity sprite stir inside of his pouch.

Taking it out, Tyrell knelt down on one knee and waited for his Lord's image to appear.

When the humanity grew big enough, a white phantom image appeared inside it. Abell appeared inside the sprite and spoke, "Hello Tyrell."

"Greetings my Lord. I have more information for you about Remnant." Tyrell said as he looked at his Lord with a smile underneath his helmet.

"I too have some information and news to share with you Tyrell, but tell me your report first." Abell said in a depressed tone as he crossed his arms.

' _Is something wrong? Why does he sound so defeated?'_ Tyrell thought as his smile vanished and asked, "My Lord is everything okay? You do not sound like yourself."

"I am only tired Tyrell. The preparations to move the kingdom and the stress of this famine are beginning to take their toll on me." Abell answered.

"My Lord, please, we can talk another time about-" Tyrell said until Abell interrupted him.

"No! I am well enough to have a simple conversation. Now tell me what it is that you have to report." Abell ordered.

Nodding, Tyrell responded, "As you wish my Lord. It looks like that Remnant is much more technologically advanced than we could ever hope to achieve in our lifetime." Tyrell said.

"Explain to me what you mean Tyrell." Abell said.

Tyrell went onto explain how he had flew in the Bullhead, about the City of Vale's architecture, the doors that could operate themselves, the tubes with metal snakes, the "cars," and the gargantuan Bullhead he saw flying near Beacon earlier in the day.

Abell stayed silent the entire time without interrupting as Tyrell explained.

When Tyrell had finished talking about the technological advances humanity made on Remnant Abell spoke, "Remnant is not what I expected. They are perhaps thousands of years ahead of us in technology, but that does not matter. These "Bullheads" will not get in the way of our arrival to Remnant."

"My Lord, I have another thing to report to you." Tyrell said with a slight worry in his voice.

"Go on Tyrell." Abell said.

"I have been taken to a place called Beacon Academy. It is one of the many schools that train the next generation of Hunters and Huntresses, but I have been told that it is the best." Tyrell said.

"Are you unharmed Tyrell? Are they keeping you prisoner?" Abell said with concern for one of his knights.

"I am well my Lord, and they have not taken me into custody, but in fact gave me a room to sleep in as long as I… provide a service for them in return." Tyrell answered with the worry in his voice increasing.

"What service do you speak of Tyrell?" Abell asked.

Hesitant at first, Tyrell eventually answered, "I have accepted to work under the Headmaster to assist the staff of Beacon in their classes. As long as I do my job, I am allowed to live in the Academy and walk freely."

Abell was silent for a few moments when he heard Tyrell's answer with his head down. Lifting his head up to look at Tyrell, Abell said, "This is great news Tyrell. As a teacher's assistant, you will have free access to many things while there."

Not expecting this reaction out of his Lord, Tyrell responded, "Um… thank you my Lord. I believe that Beacon has a library, and I will find more information there."

"Yes, you will continue to find more information on Remnant while working at this Beacon. Now it is my turn to inform you of my news." Abell said in a lower voice.

Tyrell tensed at the shift in his Lord's tone, but would hear what he had to say.

Abell said, "Alonne has organized the knights for the coming "movement", and Aulnor has just returned from his mission I had sent him on. The remaining citizens however…" Abell trailed off as he looked away from Tyrell.

"What is it my Lord? What has happened to the citizens?" Tyrell asked in a slightly raised voice, but he quickly lowered it to not wake up the sleeping students.

"The remaining citizens… had begun to riot." Abell's words were heavy and saddened, but he continued, "They began to go mad with hunger and disease. They burned down others homes and tried to raid the food storage sheds to steal what little remained." Abell continued, "I tried to reason with them, to calm them down and told them that we would soon be leaving this dying world for another. Many called me mad and refused to surrender. So I… had them all… executed."

Both Tyrell and Abell were silent after he finished his last sentence. Tyrell was horrified at the thought of the image of all the dead citizens lying in the lower Burgs.

After a long moment of silence, Tyrell spoke, "All those poor people. My Lord how could you of-" But Tyrell didn't get to finish his sentence as Abell suddenly lashed out at him.

"I tried to save them! I did everything in my power to try and save them from the famine!" Abell raised his voice.

"My Lord please-" Tyrell began.

"NO! You do not know the sacrifices I have had to make in my journey to save humanity from the _curse_! Time and time again I had come so close to helping another, but in the end I failed!" Abell continued, "I will not fail again… If I had to sacrifice the lives of my citizens to allow our people to survive then so be it. I will not fail again…" Abell finished in a softer voice.

Tyrell was shaken from his Lord's sudden lashing out at him. His Lord was stern at best when it came to discipline with his knights, but he had never lashed out at them in anger before.

"… My Lord… I am sorry. I did not even consider what you had done to rid humanity of the curse. I am deeply sorry for my misjudgments, my Lord." Tyrell said as he lowered his head.

Abell did not respond for a few moments, but then he spoke, "Continue to gather information on Remnant… your primary objective now is to find a location for me to open a portal. Then I will begin to have the rest of the kingdom move. Do not disappoint me Tyrell."

Tyrell looked up and responded, "As you wish… my Lord." At that Abell's phantom image disappeared and the humanity sprite returned to its original size.

Tyrell had placed it away in his pouch and walked over to sit down on his bed. He began to remove his armor and placed the pieces onto the floor at the foot of the nightstand. He leaned his sheathed sword and shield on the nightstand as well.

Now in only the light leather coat and pants, Tyrell layed down on his bed to try to fall sleep.

It was hard to with the conversation still fresh in his mind.

' _How could this of happened so quickly? There_ had _to of been another way to convince the citizens to stop the rioting, but he said that they had gone mad.'_ Tyrell thought to himself until another part of the conversation came to his mind.

' _The way he had said "movement" worries me. It sounds as if he is preparing for an invasion… no, our Lord would never… would he?'_ Tyrell thought unsure as the darker part of the conversation came into his mind.

' _He said he would sacrifice anything to not fail again. My Lord, what is happening to you?'_ Tyrell thought as finally sleep took hold of him and he drifted subconsciously into the land of dreams.

…

It was just an hour after dawn, and Tyrell had awoken to get a head start on the day. He had cleaned himself in the dorm's own bathroom that he had failed to see the previous night. After figuring out how to work the shower and faucet, he cleaned himself and brushed his teeth.

Then he put on his full Silver Knight armor and strapped his shield to his back over his Dragon Slayer Greatbow, and put his straight sword into its sheath.

Upon opening his door, Tyrell noticed a small package at the foot of the door. Bending down to pick it up he had opened the box to find a white thin slab of metal with a golden yellow diamond in the middle. It resembled the scrolls that both Ozpin and Miss. Goodwitch held and so Tyrell opened it.

Upon doing so he saw that it had an icon on it that read "New Message." Upon touching the icon a new screen appeared and the entire map of Beacon was shown to him.

' _That will come in handy.'_ Tyrell thought to himself as he noticed a white bar at the top right hand corner of the screen. Upon clicking it a board came up that had all the letters of the alphabet on it, although they were in the wrong order, to Tyrell.

Not sure what the letters were for, Tyrell typed the word "Goodwitch" and suddenly the map lit up and a green arrow drew out a path from Tyrell's current location to Miss. Goodwitch's classroom.

' _Very handy.'_ Tyrell thought again as he looked down at the map and started walking to his destination.

As Tyrell followed the highlighted path that his Scroll offered him, he was slightly surprised to see some students walking around the campus. They seemed to be wearing what looked like a mandatory uniform.

The male students wore a black formal suit of sorts that had golden trims and was only buttoned halfway up to reveal a blue undershirt with a white collar. They also wore a red piece of fabric that hung down from their neck and were tucked beneath the white collar.

The female students wore a similarly formal over shirt that had the same black color with golden trims. However, they wore red skirts that had black, grey, and gold lines that intersected perpendicularly. To Tyrell, the skirts did little to cover the female students' legs, and he couldn't help himself by taking a quick look at one of the female students.

' _By the old lords! Do these girls have no shame?'_ Tyrell thought blushing slightly underneath his helmet.

Quickly removing the dirty thoughts from his mind, Tyrell also noticed that they too had a red fabric hanging down from a white collar. Tyrell identified it as a red ribbon quickly as he continued to walk.

As Tyrell walked by, many students gave him strange looks, but moved out of his way when they saw the massive Greatbow upon his back.

Ignoring the looks, Tyrell continued to follow the green path through the maze that made up Beacon Academy.

…

It had taken some time to reach Miss. Goodwitch's office, even with the help of his Scroll's guide, but Tyrell had finally reached his destination.

It was currently 7:13am when Tyrell just figured out that he was extremely early to when he is supposed to meet Miss. Goodwitch.

Taking a deep sigh, Tyrell looked down at his Scroll and expanded the map of Beacon. He browsed the map to try and get a feeling of where to go so he wouldn't have to rely on his Scroll all the time.

During his search he marked a few locations that were of importance to him for now. He currently had Miss. Goodwitch's classroom, the Headmaster's office, and the cafeteria marked on his Scroll.

Tyrell was disappointed to see that it was only 7:25 am and that he would still have to wait until he could talk to Miss. Goodwitch.

"Sir Tyrell?" A voice called out. Tyrell turned his head to the direction of the voice and was surprised, and thankful, to see Miss. Goodwitch approaching with a confused look on her face. "Why are you here so early?"

"Good morning Miss. Goodwitch. I simply woke up and had gotten ready for my first day of work. Once I found the package containing my Scroll I opened a message containing a map of Beacon and followed a path to your classroom." Taking a pause, Tyrell continued, "I failed to realize that it was still very early to arrive and thought that I would wait."

Glynda continued to look at the knight in confusion, but soon waved it off and said, "Well it is good that you are here early. Now I can inform you about _how_ you will be helping me today, and then I will begin to take you on a tour of Beacon."

"Well it seems that my folly has proven useful. Then shall we enter so we may begin?" Tyrell asked. Glynda nodded and walked up to the door to unlock it with her Scroll. Upon opening the door Glynda turned on the lights and entered her classroom.

Tyrell followed suit and closed the door behind him and turned to see a circular room. Large desks stretched and filled the room and descended down four levels. Two staircases were on either side of the middle portion of desks that lead down to a circular stage.

The stage was large enough for multiple people to fight on, and a large screen was placed above the stage. Two banners bearing the kingdom of Vale's symbol were on either side of the stage.

Tyrell found the setup impressive, but it lacked an armory.

"Miss. Goodwitch, where are the weapons that students would arm themselves with for combat?" Tyrell asked the Combat instructor.

Glynda had walked down onto the stage and turned to face the knight to respond, "All students who attend Beacon carry their own weapons with them at all time. There is no armory for them to grab a weapon, but there is a locker room in which they change into their combat gear."

"What if a student decides to attack another with his or her weapon?" Tyrell asked.

"All disputes are settled in the Combat arena. A teacher or team leader must observe the match. Failure to do so will result in _severe_ consequences." Glynda answered with a strong emphasis on "severe."

Understanding, Tyrell took the liberty to walk onto the stage and look around the room once more.

"If you are done looking around, may we please start?" Glynda said in a slightly irritated voice.

"Yes Miss. Goodwitch, my apologies." Tyrell said as he turned to face the Combat instructor.

"Now, for your first class I wish you to sit back and observe the students. I want you to inform me if you notice any mistakes that they will make that will need correcting. This will allow them to improve their combat skills and think of better strategies to attack their opponent." Glynda said.

"Just to sit back and observe Miss. Goodwitch? Forgive my rudeness, but that sounds rather boring." Tyrell said as he crossed his arms and looked at Glynda in the eyes.

Crossing her own arms, Glynda said, "I will make an acception this once. If a student wishes to challenge you in combat, I will allow it. But other than that you are to do as I instruct. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand Miss. Goodwitch, thank you." Tyrell said nodding his head. Thankful that he may get to experience how these students fight.

"As always I will be having the students face off against each other. They will be learning better Aura management and control while fighting." Glynda then remembered that the knight had no Aura. She continued with, "I also want _you_ to be taking notes about Aura. You may just learn how to unlock it."

Tyrell looked at her in silence but then said, "I will take notes, but I am unsure about actually "unlocking" this Aura that I seem to possess."

"We will just have to see then. Won't we?" Glynda said with a small smirk on her lips.

…

The rest of the time had been uneventful as the clock now read 8:20 am. Tyrell was very bored and just pulled out a Prism stone to look at as time moved on.

Miss. Goodwitch was currently sitting at her desk that Tyrell failed to see before. It was located at the left side of the room and was partially hidden behind the left set of desks.

Tired of doing nothing, Tyrell asked, "Miss. Goodwitch, when will you be taking me on that tour of Beacon. I would like to see the rest of the Academy."

"I told you that we would leave as soon as I finish looking over these reports and videos of the student's fights of last semester." Glynda said in a slightly irritated voice.

With a sigh, Tyrell looked back at the Prism stone that he held in his hand. It was currently shining blue and proved a small distraction from the boredom of doing nothing.

Then there was a sudden knocking at the door of the classroom and Glynda had called out, "You may enter."

Upon saying that, Ozpin himself walked into the room bearing the same attire that he had met Tyrell in. The mug in his left hand and cane in his right, Ozpin walked down the stairs and said, "Good morning Glynda, and good morning to you Tyrell."

Nodding, Tyrell said, "Good morning to you too Ozpin." Glynda had immediately stood up and walked over to Ozpin with a file clutched to her chest.

"Headmaster Ozpin, here is the files on all the student's fights during last semester." Glynda said as she handed the file to him.

"Thank you Glynda." Ozpin said.

Upon thanking her, Glynda turned to Tyrell and said, "I believe that we may start with the tour now, Sir Tyrell."

"Thank you." Was all Tyrell said as he stood up and made his way over to the others. He placed the Prism stone back inside his pouch.

"Mind if I tag along Glynda?" Ozpin asked as he addressed her with a small smile on his face.

"Of course, Ozpin." Glynda said as she led the two out of the room and began the tour.

…

The campus was very nice to Tyrell. Students were walking about, going on about their own business before classes started. They had already visited the training room, the auditorium, some of the other professor's offices that Tyrell would be assisting in the near future, and their last stop seemed to be the cafeteria.

Some students greeted the Headmaster and Miss. Goodwitch, but gave Tyrell the same strange look that others had given him earlier.

"You both are very well respected around here. It is nice to see students respect their elders." Tyrell said. At this Glynda slightly cringed with a sour look on her face, whereas Ozpin chuckled lightly.

"Yes. The students here are disciplined and respectable of their "elders," Glynda cringed again, "but there are still many that like to break the rules." Ozpin finished.

At that moment, they were nearing the cafeteria when Tyrell caught something flying up into the sky.

It was hard to tell at first, but it looked like a bright yellow blur. Then they had seen many students seemingly running _away_ from the cafeteria as if they feared for their lives.

Tyrell heard one of them shout out the words "Food fight" as the stampede of students ran around their small group.

"Speaking of which." Ozpin said as Glynda began to march angrily towards the cafeteria. Both Tyrell and Ozpin followed suit. Ozpin had a look of amusement on his face while Tyrell had one of confusion.

As they neared closer to the cafeteria, Tyrell could hear what sounded like… a whirlwind?

Just as they had arrived at the doors, a loud impact sound came from within the building. That was when Glynda shoved open the doors forcefully to allow entrance into the cafeteria.

What Tyrell saw amazed him and left him confused at the same time. What was once the cafeteria had turned into the aftermath of a warzone. Tables were turned upside down, broken into pieces, or stacked into a large pile creating a tower of sorts.

Food was _everywhere_ and covered pretty much every inch of the floor creating a huge mess. Tyrell had also seen broken plates and silverware throughout the mess as well.

What made him speechless however, was the large colorful impact at the very back of the cafeteria. Cracks spider webbed their way across the back wall, and a multitude of colorful food splatter covered all of the cracks forming a circle of sorts.

Tyrell would of called it art if it were paint used rather than food, but then he noticed the four bodies falling from the colorful crater. A student was kneeled down in front of the impact with their back turned to it.

"I love these guys." A man to Tyrell's right said. Tyrell didn't even notice him when they had entered the cafeteria, being too amazed by the condition of the cafeteria.

The young man had sandy blond hair. He wore an open white shirt that showed off his upper body off, and wore a necklace. He had blue pants and wore long red gloves that covered his forearms. Tyrell also took note of the tail that was hanging off from his tailbone, obviously.

An angry grunt escaped the other young man to Tyrell's left side. It was hard to describe him as he was currently covered from top to bottom in a purple liquid substance.

Ignoring the two, Tyrell looked towards Miss. Goodwitch's direction and saw yet another incredible sight.

Miss. Goodwitch, with a wave of her crop, began to reassemble the entire cafeteria. Tables, plates, and silverware flew through the air and were put back in what Tyrell assumed to be their original position. When she was done it had looked like nothing had occurred.

"Children, please. Do not play with your food." Glynda said while trying to restrain the irritation and anger in her voice.

Ozpin had walked up to Tyrell's side and chuckled. "All that destruction over a food fight."

"… That was just a food fight, Ozpin? I would hate to see the destruction caused by them if they actually fought each other." Tyrell said as he looked at the culprits.

Most were covered in food, the four on the left more so than the right side. Tyrell counted seven in total, five females and two males. He noticed the odd number and thought to himself _'Aren't teams supposed to be made of four members?'_

At that a loud cracking sound was heard as a blond haired girl came crashing through the ceiling.

' _That answers that I suppose.'_ Tyrell thought. While Miss. Goodwitch was glaring at the now eight students, Ozpin had walked up to her and began speaking softly to her.

Tyrell did not hear any of it as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw the young man with the sandy blond hair as he said, "Sup dude. Haven't seen you around before on campus. You one of the exchange students coming from the other kingdoms?"

"You could say that. I am here from my village that does not reside near any of the kingdoms." Tyrell said answering the man's question. Looking down at him slightly, Tyrell asked, "And just who are you?"

"Names Sun. I used to live in Vacuo, but later moved to Mistral. I'm here for the Vytal festival and to compete in the tournament." The man, Sun, said as he had a confident smile on his face and Tyrell saw the tail behind him curl up a bit.

"Very interesting. I am Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel, a knight of my Lord." Tyrell introduced himself to Sun with a slight bow of his head.

"A knight? Wow, your village must be _really_ old fashioned if they still have knights to protect them." Sun said as he put his hands behind his head in a relaxed position.

"Yes, I guess one would say that when compared to this wor-. I mean… kingdom." Tyrell caught himself as he almost exposed his secret to someone he barely knew.

"Yeah I guess. Oh yeah! Let me introduce you to my old friend, Neptune." Sun said as he gestured over to the other young man that was still covered in the purple liquid.

He seemed to glare at Sun for a moment, but suddenly switched faces as a calm smile appeared on his lips. A small sparkle emitted from the pure white teeth that Neptune had as he simply said, "Hey."

"Hello, Neptune." Tyrell simply greeted. After Tyrell was introduced to both Sun and Neptune, Ozpin walked by and was talking to Glynda.

"It isn't a role they'll have forever." And with that the Headmaster walked outside of the cafeteria. Glynda sighed and looked over to Tyrell with a stern look, still unnerved at having to clean up after both teams RWBY and JNPR's mess.

"Come now, Sir Tyrell, we may finish the tour another day, classes will be starting in ten minutes. You wouldn't want to be late on your first day on the job. Would you?" Glynda said as she started to walk out the same entrance that they had entered through.

"Of course not, Miss. Goodwitch. It was a pleasure to meet the both of you. Sun. Neptune. Have a good day." Tyrell finished as he followed the Combat instructor out of the cafeteria.

He did not notice the pair of silver eyes that watched him as he made his exit.

…

Tyrell did what he was instructed to do by Miss. Goodwitch. He stood near her desk as he observed the students fight one another on the stage. So far it had only been one on one duels, and Tyrell was impressed by a few of the matches.

One skilled student wielding a large black mace had won many of his matches so far. Tyrell found his skill good, but the younger man was too prone to anger and arrogant.

Another student that caught Tyrell's eye was one of the female students that partook in the food fight earlier. She wore bronze like armor and carried a spear and shield. Her long red ponytail seemed to not get in her way as she dodged her opponent's strikes and seemed to not be hit once. She showed both discipline and strength while on the battlefield.

Tyrell had now seen that the screen above showed a picture of each combatant and a green bar would be placed underneath each. Miss. Goodwitch had mentioned how it showed each combatant's Aura and when it dropped below to red, then the match would be called.

During one of the less interesting fights, Tyrell had taken a quick glance around the room to look at all of the students currently residing in it. He found all of the students that were from the cafeteria at the end of the food fight in the class. They all were dressed in their "combat gear," as Miss. Goodwitch said earlier, but to Tyrell it looked like normal clothing, at least to this world.

As the next match between one of the two males from the cafeteria and the mace wielder ended, with the mace wielder laughing at his victory over the blonde boy, Miss. Goodwitch called out, "Another win for Mr. Winchester. Mr. Arc, while you have been improving over the last few months, you still seem to be having trouble landing most of your strikes."

Tyrell looked up at the screen and saw that the blond boy's Aura had dropped into the red zone, the mace wielder's Aura stayed in the green zone, although it had dropped a tad due to the blond landing a couple of hits on the larger boy.

"Yes, Miss. Goodwitch, I understand." The blond responded in a defeated voice. Looking at him as he walked back to his seat, the red headed girl comforting him as he sat down, Tyrell thought of what he saw.

' _He knew when to attack, but he lacked the ability to pull it off. He did manage to land a few hits, but other than that he could only block the no doubt powerful blows from that mace. Why did he not try to parry?'_ Tyrell finished his thought as Miss. Goodwitch cleared the screen with her Scroll.

"Now students we have time for one more match today. Would anyone like to go?" Glynda said as she looked around the room, but was disappointed to find a lack of volunteers.

"Miss. Goodwitch, I wouldn't mind going for one more round. I still got plenty of Aura left in me. It's not like many of the people put up much of a fight anyway." The mace wielder said as Tyrell caught a few glares aimed at the tall boy.

"Very well Mr. Winchester. Who would you-" Glynda was abruptly cut off as the mace wielder pointed his finger in Tyrell's direction.

"I want to fight him." He said with an overconfident smile on his face. The eyes of every single student in the room turned to look at the knight. None of them ever seeing him before in class. Tyrell noticed a few of the students whispering to one another, but he ignored them as he instead looked over in the mace wielder's direction.

Glynda readjusted her glasses as she looked over to Tyrell.

"You wish to fight Sir Tyrell? Very well Mr. Winchester. I am setting up the stage now for the duel." After she had finished she looked back at Tyrell and said, "Sir Tyrell, please come up to the stage and take your position across from Mr. Winchester."

Tyrell obeyed and stepped up onto the stage after leaning his Greatbow up against a nearby wall. Across from him was his opponent.

He wore an upper chest piece that had the symbol of a bird with its wings spread out. He also had metal gauntlets, shoulder plates, and small metal grieves that covered the sides of his legs.

He had dark orange hair that was combed back, and his eyes were the color of Indigo. He stood just half a head sorter than Tyrell if he had to guess.

The mace wielder, or Mr. Winchester, stood on the opposite side of the stage and said, "I've never seen you around here before. Good, that means fresh meat to grind up." Cardin said as he placed his mace to rest on his shoulder.

Tyrell was silent as he unsheathed his Silver Knight sword and placed his shield upon his left arm.

"Heh. What, not gonna talk? Must be scarred to be fighting me then. Let's do this." Cardin said as he waited for the buzzer to signal the start of the match.

"If both combatants are ready. Then let the match… begin!" Glynda said as a small buzzer sounded to start the match.

* * *

 **Finally done! I think that this chapter is now my longest one yet, but that's okay. I will say this, I won't be using much of the show's original dialogue, because I know how that can be boring to read, but do expect to see some in the coming future.**

 **Now I know that some of you will probably be questioning, or mad, that Abell had to kill off the remaining citizens. Well most were going mad with hunger while others went straight out crazy when they caught a disease (there were multiple diseases that infected the citizens), and they proved to be a hazard to the kingdom's safety. That's why there were riots and sectioned off sectors of the Burgs. It didn't help however and Abell was trying to look out for the safety of his kingdom. So he was forced to commit this terrible sin. As for his reaction to Tyrell, well you'll all find out later on in the story why.**

 **Also, I will be following some of the episodes of Volume 2. Now I won't be having something like Tyrell fighting the Paladin controlled by Torchwick, but expect to see him (and others) in scenes from Volume 2. I do remember that classes didn't start on the day of the food fight in the first episode, but I thought that it went along with the story better if they started on that day instead.**

 **Another thing. Once I reach the ending of Volume 2 with the story, we will be going into full original content mode. So even if Volume 3 airs while I am still writing this, don't expect to see anything from the 3** **rd** **volume. That's just a heads up and sorry if this AN turned into a rant. I just can't shut up.**

 **I'll talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well hello everyone! How have you all been doing? Remember when I said that these chapters would be around 3,000 to 4,500 long? Well after the last few chapters I realized that I just couldn't help myself in making them longer ones.**

 **So here we are in Chapter 9, who's ready for the fight of the century? Cardin the Bully vs Tyrell the Sentinel. Who will win? Who will get humiliated? Who will DIE?! Lol JK.**

 **Anyway, onto the story!**

 **P.S. - I want to nip this in the bud incase it happens again in the future. I don't want anyone to be fighting in the reviews. If you want to argue then please do it in PMs. I understand that there are people that don't have accounts on this site, and if that is the case then just ignore the person, please?**

* * *

 _ **New Friends, New Enemies**_

The buzzer rang out and both combatants stared down at one another for only a moment before Cardin launched himself towards Tyrell. Running at full speed towards his opponent, Cardin raised his large mace up to get the first blow in.

Tyrell had bent his knees somewhat to ready himself for the mace wielder's overhead attack. However, he did not raise his shield or even his sword, but rather he had then down at his sides.

Cardin noticed this and a smile appeared on his face as he thought, _'This chump must be too scared to even defend himself! This is going to be easy.'_

Cardin swung down his mace in an overhead arc to flatten his opponent, but instead of seeing his opponent flat on the ground, Cardin saw that his mace had hit the ground instead. Small cracks spread from the point of impact, but that wasn't Cardin's main concern as he looked around for his opponent.

At the last possible second, Tyrell had rolled out of the way of Cardin's overhead swing and was now positioned behind the mace wielder. With his back exposed to Tyrell, the knight took up the opportunity to take a quick horizontal slash across his back.

The blow had caused Cardin to stagger forwards a few steps, but to Tyrell's surprise there was no mark on the young man's back.

' _My strike had connected, but he took no bodily harm. Is this what Aura is?'_ Tyrell's thought was cut short as Cardin quickly swung his mace backwards and almost connected to the knight's head if he hadn't raised his shield to block it.

Cardin then proceeded to throw multiple swings of his mace at the knight to break his guard. Tyrell had continued to block the strikes until he saw an opening. After many swings, Cardin had lost some of his stamina and he began to swing slower.

Tyrell used this to his advantage as he ducked underneath the mace wielder's latest swing and used his sword to slash upwards at Cardin's right arm.

The strike lacked some of its power due to the closed distance between the two combatants, but it had managed to cause Cardin's right arm to fall lower for a moment as Tyrell back stepped away to expand the distance.

Cardin grunted as he quickly got his arm back up and held his mace in two hands. Then letting out an angry yell, Cardin again charged at the knight in full force.

Tyrell had brought up his shield again to block when he was thrown off guard when the now two handed mace hit his shield.

Not only did the force of the mace's hit become stronger, but a small _explosion_ erupted from the mace as it hit its target. Tyrell was sent skidding backwards as the explosion's smoke cleared to reveal Cardin charging again towards Tyrell.

' _I won't be able to keep blocking those powerful strikes forever. It's time I changed things up a bit.'_ Tyrell thought as he narrowly back stepped away from a swing aimed for his head. Quickly Tyrell stood up before Cardin could bring his arm around for a second swing and simply kicked the young man in the stomach. Hard.

Cardin felt the force of the kick, even with his Aura protecting him as he was sent staggering backward a few steps. It was just enough room for Tyrell to rear his left arm backwards, and balling his hand into a fist.

Tyrell then threw a punch that had connected to Cardin's face. With his armored hand, and the sharp point of the shield in the front, the blow had caused the young man to fall flat on his back.

Lucky for Tyrell, the sharp point of the shield had connected with the mace wielder's left eye. Thankfully the eye was not destroyed, probably due to the Aura protecting it, but instead swollen up into a black eye.

Cardin had raised his left hand to feel the injury, but instantly regretted it as a sharp pain emitted from the touch of the tender injury. "You bastard!" Cardin yelled in anger as he rose up from the floor and onto his feet.

Letting out a yell of pure rage, Cardin rushed the knight with his mace raised to swing across his head.

Tyrell saw the strike coming, but instead waited for it and let both shield and sword rest at his sides yet again as the mace wielder charged.

"You're dead!" Cardin shouted as he began to swing his mace to deal the mighty blow that he was sure would end the match and ensure his revenge.

The entire room was silent, with the exception of Cardin's death threat to the stranger. They all waited, some in excitement and others in concern, as the stranger seemed to be accepting the blow that would decide the match. Then they were in pure shock.

Just as the mace was a foot away from his head, Tyrell had done the age old art of risk and reward for combatants, he parried.

Cardin was blinded by his rage over his injury that he did not even notice that his right arm was currently pushed to his side. Leaving him exposed.

Tyrell was in the process of reposting by driving his sword through his opponents abdomen. However, that did not happen, as the tip of his blade that was supposed to plunge through his opponent merely bounced off instead. He had forgotten about the Aura in what he thought would have been his sure victory.

During Tyrell's brief state of shock, Cardin had regained his composure and swung his mace at Tyrell. Cardin smiled arrogantly as he saw his mace connect with his opponent's chest.

"Aaahhh!" Tyrell cried as the explosion and impact of the mace had sent him flying backwards. He slid to the foot of the stage on his back, but that was not his main concern as the pain from his chest exploded.

The few already broken ribs cracked further as his armor could only absorb so much of the mace's raw power.

Rising slowly to his feet, Tyrell looked at the mace wielder with a glare. Although he couldn't see it, Cardin's smile vanished and was replaced with a frown as he looked into his opponent's black visor.

"Still standing? And here I thought that you weren't going to put up much of a fight now." Cardin said with a sneer as he took a quick glance up at the screen that displayed each combatant's Aura. His had dropped into the yellow section, and was just underneath the middle line. Angered by the fact that this newcomer managed to get him this low, Cardin then took a look over to his opponent's Aura gauge.

What he saw both shocked him and caused him a small amount of fear.

There, across from his own image on the opposite side showed a picture of the newcomer, but where his Aura gauge should have been there was only a white bar.

' _He… he has no Aura?'_ Cardin thought. As Cardin looked at the screen for a while, so did the rest of the class. They too were shocked at what they saw. Some were as shocked as Cardin while concern filled the faces of others as they looked at the stranger.

Tyrell's breath was somewhat wheezy and chocked as the blow had knocked the air from his lungs, along with crushing them a little.

Seeing that his opponent was looking at the screen, he didn't bother as he already knew that he did not possess Aura.

"Pay attention… to your opponent… or else you'll lose." Tyrell said in between breaths of air. _'It will take a few weeks for these bones to mend and for my lungs to heal.'_ Tyrell thought inside his head.

After his Lord freed humanity from the curse of the Undead, a perk of sorts stayed with each once affected by the curse.

One's injuries would heal at a faster rate than before. Bones would mend themselves faster in a matter of weeks, rather than months. Small cuts were gone within an hour, but even with this perk, those once branded would still need to seek medical aid.

After hearing Tyrell speak, Cardin turned to face his opponent. Cardin's previous fear was washed away as he realized that his opponent was able to bring him down so low _without_ Aura. Anger took place of the fear and then Cardin decided that he would end this fight once and for all as he ran at his opponent.

Tyrell did the same and raised his shield as he too ran at Cardin.

Both sword and mace clashed and if you looked close you could see small sparks emitting from where each weapon collided. Both opponents matching the other by strikes, slashes, and swings.

Cardin's Aura gauge continued to move down until it was just on the border of the red. He was growing tired and weak, where his opponent seemed to have almost unlimited stamina and energy despite his injuries.

With a last attempt to get a successful strike on his opponent, Cardin threw a punch at the side of his helmet with his left hand to disorientate him, but unfortunalty the strike missed as Tyrell ducked under the intended blow.

Taking the opening, Tyrell slashed out with his sword in a strong vertical attack that went down on his opponent's armored chest plate. There was a shallow cut that ran down the entirety of Cardin's chest plate on the right side.

Cardin, with his Aura exhausted, fell onto his back and groaned tiredly in defeat. Tyrell placed his armored right foot atop Cardin's chest and pointed his sword down at his throat.

Cardin audibly gulped as Tyrell said in the low voice, "Do you yield?"

Nodding frantically, Cardin responded with panic in his voice, "Yes! Yes I yield! Just point that thing somewhere else!"

Accepting his answer, Tyrell removed his foot from Cardin's chest and waited for Miss. Goodwitch to call the match.

Instead of hearing the teacher he was currently assisting, Tyrell heard the sound of… applause? Some of the students were clapping their hands together as they saw that Cardin was finally beaten in combat. One even went as far as to shout, "Rock on, knight dude!"

Tyrell was utterly confused by the phrase, but bowed to the audience to thank them for their praise. That was when Glynda walked up to the middle of the stage.

"Quiet down students. As you can see, Sir Tyrell has defeated Mr. Winchester in combat." Turning to the knight she said, "Congratulations on a well fought match." Then turning back to the students she continued, "As I'm sure you have all guessed, Sir Tyrell is new here and as I have been addressing him, he is not a student attending Beacon."

At this some of the student's faces turned to ones of disappointment, while the majority remained with confused expressions.

Glynda then said, "Instead he is _working_ here at Beacon under Headmaster Ozpin. He will be assisting Professors Oobleck and Port, and myself. So you will be seeing more of him in some of your classes." At this news some of the student's expressions turned from disappointment to excitement while others went from confused to their neutral look.

Tyrell had looked over the faces that were currently watching him, and spotted all of those that caused the food fight earlier in the day.

The black haired girl wearing a bow atop her head along with the one clad in white seemed to not care as the black haired one was reading a book while the white clad girl filed her nails.

However, the female blond girl and another girl with orange hair seemed to have excitement fill their eyes as they observed the new staff member.

A boy with black hair seemed to have a neutral expression on his face as he too looked at Tyrell. A closer look revealed a stripe of pink hair running down the side of his head.

The girl with crimson red hair seemed to simply look at Tyrell with a neutral expression of her own, but this one less tense compared to the boy's. When he looked at her she offered him a small smile.

Tyrell looked at the last two of the eight. Both the blonde boy that had lost to the mace wielder earlier and a girl with a red hood and silver eyes looked at Tyrell in awe. Both of them just stared at Tyrell with complete fascination, and he would be lying is he said that he didn't mind the looks they gave him.

Glynda brought Tyrell out of his thoughts as she said aloud, "You all will also note that Sir Tyrell has not yet unlocked his Aura yet, but he is a skilled combatant. So do not underestimate him in if you are to face him in the future. That is all for today's combat practice. Class dismissed." As Glynda finished as bell went off, signaling the end of the class.

The students began to pile out of the classroom through the door in the back, but not until Glynda called out, "Miss. Rose, please stay for a moment."

The girl that Tyrell saw that held the red cape and silver eyes turned around and came back down the stairs to the waiting Miss. Goodwitch and Tyrell.

When she arrived she did not say a word as she waited for Miss. Goodwitch to speak, and also looking at Tyrell in the same state of awe that both she and the blonde boy shared just moments ago.

"Miss. Rose, if you would be so kind as to escort Sir Tyrell here to the infirmary." Glynda said while keeping her stern mask on as she addressed Ruby.

"Yes Miss. Goodwitch." Ruby responded as she looked back at the knight. "Come on let's get you patched up." The young girl said in a cheery voice.

Nodding, Tyrell went over and picked up the Greatbow and set it upon his back along with his shield while his put his sword in its sheath.

He then proceeded to follow the young girl with the red hood out of Miss. Goodwitch's classroom.

…

They had just left Miss. Goodwitch's classroom and were on their way to the infirmary. Silence fell between the two as they walked the halls of Beacon. However, that silence lasted a total of three seconds as the short girl next to him began to speak in awe over Tyrell's fight.

"Oh my gosh! You were so cool during that fight against Cardin! Not many people can beat him, well except for Pyrrha, and my sister Yang, and my friend Nora, but without Aura!? How did you pull that off? It doesn't matter because you were so awesome! Cardin hit you in the chest and sent you across the stage like *Boom*!" Ruby said as she imitated the swing Cardin threw that sent Tyrell flying. "But then you just got up like it was nothing! And _beat_ him! Trained Hunter or not that was amazing!" The young girl paused to take a breath, but before she could continue Tyrell spoke instead.

"Miss. Rose was it? While I appreciate the praise, it is nothing to get too excited over. Mr. Winchester did put up a good fight, although his Aura blocked my riposte which would have ended the duel, it was an even fight." Tyrell said as he thought back to how he made the mistake to forget about Aura. He brought a hand up to his injured chest as he regretted making such a mistake.

' _Would have thought that I was past making those kinds of mistakes. It still shows how much I have to learn.'_ Tyrell thought to himself as he still felt the pain from the blow of the mace in his chest.

"It was still pretty cool fight though." Ruby mumbled somewhat as she looked down at her feet as they were nearing the infirmary.

"So tell me Miss. Rose, how long have you been attending Beacon?" Tyrell asked to make conversation and to begin learning about some of his future students that he would help if they needed it.

The young girl brought her head back up at the question with a smile on her face. She then said, "This is actually my first year at Beacon. I got moved two years ahead of my grade and am now the youngest student to attend Beacon."

"Two years ahead? If you don't mind me asking your age?" Tyrell questioned as they walked out onto Beacon's main campus.

"Not at all, I'm fifteen." She paused for a moment and then said, "But I'm not a kid! I'm very mature for my age." She exclaimed as she folded her arms together as they passed the statue in the middle of the fountain.

"I will take your word for it. Do you have your own team?" Tyrell asked.

The smile on the girl's face grew wider as she stated, "Actually, not only do I have my own team, but I am the team leader of the mighty teeeaaaaam RWBY!" She pointed her right index finger in the air as she told the knight her position at Beacon.

Tyrell remained silent for a moment, but then lightly laughed at the young girl's antics as he said, "I suppose that makes you the youngest team leader in Beacon ever as well?"

Ruby brought down her hand and laughed along with the knight. They both did not notice, but they had arrived at the infirmary. Now standing at the main entrance, Tyrell said, "Thank you for guiding me to the infirmary Miss. Rose. Perhaps I will see you again in another class soon." The knight bowed slightly, but grunted slightly as the pain in his chest burst with the movement.

"No problem, but you should get into the infirmary now, that didn't sound comfortable." Ruby said as she pointed to the main desk where he would have to sign in.

Tyrell nodded his thanks to her and headed inside where a nurse had met him at the front counter. Ruby heard her say that Miss. Goodwitch had called ahead to schedule the treatment. Taking one last look at the knight, and new professor, or was he an assistant-professor? She didn't know.

Ruby Rose shook her head as she went to her next class of the day… with Professor Port.

…

Ports class was the only class that Ruby could honestly say that she dreaded going to. The older man was nice in his own way, but with the constant story telling of himself in his younger years and how he bores most (if not all) of his class to sleep.

' _He even tried to_ flirt _with Yang in the middle of class! Gross!'_ Ruby thought as she quickly shook her head to dismiss the thoughts of the older professor flirting with young girls.

To her left sat her older sister, Yang Xiao Long, who was the best older sibling one could wish to ask for. Although her teasing got out of hand and she always was overprotective of her little sister. Yang brought the fun into the team and seemed to always boost the morale of her teammates through her constant joking, or one of her terrible puns.

To her right sat her fellow teammate and partner, Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company of Remnant. Weiss was cold to everyone around her when they had first met, but ever since their team was formed Weiss had slowly began to warm up to her teammates. She even accepted Blake for who she was when she revealed to them that she was a Faunus. Albeit accidentally. Weiss was Ruby's best friend at Beacon, and their friendship continued to grow as the year went by.

Finally, to Yang's left side was her other teammate, and Yang's partner, Blake Belladonna. Blake was a conserved girl who seemed to bottle up her emotions and put on a neutral face when addressing strangers, or sometimes even friends. Blake always had a book with her at all times and was team RWBY's bookworm, along with being the team's stealth specialist/ninja.

' _Ninjas are cool.'_ Ruby thought as she had already tuned out the professor's drawn out story telling long ago.

Then her mind wondered over to more recent events. How her and her team would secretly take down the corrupt terrorist group of the White Fang and bring them to justice.

They would conduct research and gather information on the Fang to see what they were up to and put a stop to it. Ruby was confident that they would not fail their secret mission and would be successful. She might have been only fifteen years old, but both she and her team knew that she was a great leader.

After she thought about their plans to bring down the White Fang, her mind drifted to other things. One was the new professor who had recently kicked Cardin's butt in a match, with no Aura!

It still amazed her that someone could take so much damage, but keep on going. She knew that he had armor, but the fact still remained, to still stand after such a powerful blow showed both great strength and strong determination.

' _No, not strong determination, but rather a strong will.'_ Ruby thought. Not to mention that his armor looked super cool to her!

The armor reminded her of some of the heroic knights of the story books that Yang would read to her when they were kids.

Ruby wondered if she could talk to him more sometime later. She was too much in awe over the fight that she had forgotten to ask him about himself. He might be their new professor, but that didn't mean that she couldn't get to know him better and be friends, right?

"Hey sis, what's that you drew there?" Yang asked as she leaned over to look down at her sister's notebook.

"What's what Yang?" Ruby asked back confused at the question. Yang then pointed down at Ruby's notebook where she usually took notes (forced upon by Weiss) and noticed that she had unconsciously drawn their new professor.

Ruby was no artist, but even she was impressed that it had turned out better than most art that she made. She was surprised, but that surprise was quickly replaced with embarrassment as Yang said, "Aww. Does wittle Ruby have a crush on the new professor?"

Ruby grew slightly red in her cheeks and quickly said, "Yang! I do not!" Apparently she said it a little too loudly as Professor Port gave a slight cough and was looking in their direction.

"Something you would like to say Miss. Rose?" Port asked the young girl, but Ruby quickly shook her head in the negative and looked down at her notebook.

The professor nodded and continued on with his story about wolves and cabbages.

As Ruby looked down at the picture she drew, she smiled. She couldn't wait to see the new professor again to talk to him and learn more about him.

…

Tyrell was currently sitting in what he was told was the infirmary of Beacon where injured students went to have their injuries checked and taken care of.

It certainly was ten times better than the medical wards back in Lordran. Where in Lordran the beds were just flat pieces of cloth on a cold concrete ground, and they certainly didn't have room for each patient.

Here, however, the beds we unnaturally soft and comfortable and each room held only four beds in them.

Each bed had strange equipment attached to each and were kept nice and clean. A nurse was currently checking his vitals. She had asked him to remove his armor and he complied without hesitation, but when she asked him to remove the leather coat that he wore Tyrell had politely refused.

He did not wish to expose the curse mark that layed on his heart, although no longer active it still remained. Every Undead had been branded by the curse, some had their marks in other places on their body, but most had the curse branded onto the front and back of where their heart was.

After constantly refusing to remove his leather coat, the nurse caved in and began the check up, but Tyrell saw an annoyed look upon her face.

After she had finished checking his vitals, she moved on to applying pressure to where his cracked ribs were. He grunted slightly in pain, but remained mostly silent while she continued.

"You have three cracked ribs, and a fourth one is shattered. Miss. Goodwitch informed me that you have yet to unlock your Aura. This will just make the healing process last longer." The nurse informed Tyrell.

"I understand. How long do you think it will take to heal?" Tyrell asked. The nurse had thought about it for a moment before she replied.

"Without Aura, it will take up about several weeks for the fractured bones to heal, but an additional three for the shattered one to begin to mend." The nurse finished.

"Thank you for the information and the check up. Is there anything else that you must do?" Tyrell asked as he began to put back on his Silver Knight chest piece.

"No. There is nothing else that needs to be done, but I must tell you that you will need to come back every two weeks for a routine check up to make sure that everything is healing properly." The nurse said. She then spoke again, "Also, you will need to apply this medical gel over your ribs. It is infused with healing herbs and Dust particles that will help make the healing process go faster."

With that the nurse handed Tyrell a small container filled with a tan colored cream. Tyrell took it and nodded his thanks to the nurse as she then left Tyrell alone in the infirmary room.

' _Six weeks? With my natural healing and this healing substance it will take a maximum of three weeks to heal my bones.'_ Tyrell thought as he placed the medical gel into the pouch that was resting on a small nightstand that was next to his bed.

After putting his chest armor back on, Tyrell grabbed his weapons and shield and strapped them in their proper places. He then grabbed the small pouch that housed all of his items, and tied it around his waist where the pouch was resting just at the base of his spine.

Checking to make sure that he had grabbed everything, Tyrell had walked out of the medical room and to the front desk. He decided to pull out his Scroll to direct him to where Miss. Goodwitch's classroom was.

When he had arrived several minutes later, he knocked on the door until he heard a "You may enter" from inside the room. Tyrell opened the door and saw Miss. Goodwitch sitting at her desk reading over a few documents.

She looked up upon his entrance and raised her eyebrows in both surprise and confusion. "Sir Tyrell? Shouldn't you be in the infirmary recovering?"

"I have already received a check up from one of the nurses and she had handed me a healing gel to apply to the areas where the bones are cracked." Tyrell responded as he produced the medical gel from his pouch.

Glynda nodded, but still had a look of confusion on her face. Then Tyrell asked, "Why do you seem confused Miss. Goodwitch?"

"I'm just wondering why you are here instead of your next class with Professor Port." Glynda answered as she starred at the clock that was above the door that leads into her classroom. It currently read 10:57 am.

Tyrell had then asked, "I thought that I was needed here. Please Miss. Goodwitch, can you inform me of the schedule that I must follow?" Tyrell was generally confused. He had not received any type of schedule prior to the day's beginning.

"Of course. I will send you the schedule that the Headmaster _should_ have sent to your Scroll earlier." Glynda said in an annoyed voice. It wasn't directed at the knight entirely, but most of it towards Ozpin due to his lack of fulfilling a simple task.

Tyrell heard his Scroll ring and had retrieved the device from his pouch. When he opened it, he noticed a new message that appeared. He thanked Miss. Goodwitch and had walked out of the classroom to open the message.

It was the schedule that he had to follow everyday for as long as he worked under Ozpin. His first class in the morning was to work with Miss. Goodwitch at 9:00 am. Then he would move onto Professor Port's class that began at 10:00 am.

Not noticing the clock that read 10:58 am on the top right of his Scroll, Tyrell continued to move down the schedule.

After Professor Port's class, there would be a two hour brake for the students. This could be spent anyway as long as it was on campus. Tyrell thought that he would grab some food from the cafeteria when that break arrived.

After the break, he would go and assist Professor Oobleck at 1:00 pm. After that, it said that he would return to Miss. Goodwitch's class for another combat lesson and then the day would be over. Tyrell closed the message and opened up the map of Beacon to find the directions to Professor Port's classroom.

After doing so he was about to start walking to his destination when, just as he was about to put his Scroll away he noticed the small clock that read the current time.

It read 10:59 am.

Tyrell then just decided to follow the directions anyway to the professor's class, despite being late and would miss the class entirely.

He hadn't thought about it before but the walk to the infirmary, the wait for the check up, the check up itself, and his mistake of going back to Miss. Goodwitch's class had taken up too much time.

With a sigh, Tyrell continued to walk the halls of Beacon in silence.

Thankfully, the walk had been a short one and he pledged to himself that he would not be late again in the future. The clock had read 11:03 am and Tyrell had passed by the students that were leaving the professor's classroom.

Some he recognized some from Miss. Goodwitch's class, but decided to say nothing to them as he passed. He even saw Miss. Rose as he walked by, but she either didn't notice him or just ignored him as she and her friends walked away.

Tyrell paid it no attention and knocked on the door to the professor's classroom.

"Come in." A deep voice called from within and Tyrell entered the classroom.

The structure of the class was only slightly different than that of Miss. Goodwitch's classroom. The only difference was that a large desk sat at the bottom of the room in the middle.

Behind it were various pictures of the Grimm creatures with multiple labels pointing to different parts of each Grimm. Tyrell recognized the wolf, bear, and bird forms of the Grimm, but saw three new ones that he didn't recognize.

One depicted that of a large insect like creature. It carried itself on eight legs, with four of each side. The legs reminded Tyrell those of a spider, although much thicker. It had two very large pincers for its hands, and a long tail rose above its head and was topped with a large stinger.

The next one was that of a boar like creature. Its body resembles that of a boar, but had features that separated the two. It had a pair of tusks that were far too outgrown and curled back towards the creature's head. It had four eyes total and it was like another set had grown atop the first.

Finally, the last creature somewhat resembled that of one of the Primordial Serphants. Its body was the only real resemblance, a long snake like form. It had its mouth open and Tyrell saw four large spiked teeth that produced from its maw.

Tyrell had been so caught up in the images of the strange new Grimm that he had forgotten about the professor in front of him as he said, "May I help you?"

Tyrell looked at the man in front of him. He looked to be middle aged and wore a maroon colored suit that had gold piping and buttons. His dark grey pants were tucked into his olive colored boots. He had grey hair and eyebrows and Tyrell would be lying if he said that he didn't have an impressive mustache. He also appeared to be a little overweight, but Tyrell made no comment.

"My apologies Professor Port. My name is Sir Tyrell, the-" Tyrell was cut off as the professor spoke loudly.

"A knight you say! Well it is quite a pleasure to meet such a noble man. Not many knights around these days. There is only one family that I know of that still hold a bloodline of knights. The Arc family!" Port exclaimed as he walked over to Tyrell and clapped his hand down on his shoulder.

"Yes indeed, it is nice to meet you Sir Tyrell! Now how can I help you?" The professor asked as he removed his hand from Tyrell's shoulder.

"I wish to apologize for not arriving to your class on time Professor Port. After Miss. Goodwitch's class I had to make a visit to the infirmary. The wait and the check up had taken longer than I anticipated and I had not received my schedule in which teachers I would be assisting." Tyrell finished explaining to the portly professor as he stroked his mustache.

Then he responded, "Ahh, so you are the new staff member here at Beacon. Ozpin told me that you would be helping the teachers in their class." He then paused for a moment before continuing, "It is quite alright Sir Tyrell. I understand how these students can become rather ruff in their fights and tend to take the fight to an extreme level."

"Thank you for understanding Professor Port. I will not be late again." Tyrell thanked once more. Just as he was about to leave, Port spoke.

"Please, call me Peter. No need for colleagues to be so formal with one another. Ahh, this reminds me of a time when I first attended a combat school." Peter said and began to recall one of his many stories from his youth.

"I was a strapping young lad who could only dream about becoming a great Hunter. I met my first colleague at Signal. His name was Jeremy Peabottom…" Peter continued with his story as he started to walk about the classroom.

Tyrell didn't wish to be a bad audience to Peter, but he was growing very hungry and craved to eat.

"Peter could I plea-" Tyrell didn't finish as Peter continued to go on with the story.

"We were the best of friends! We got into more trouble than a city crime gang, but we were the most popular in our school and many young women found us irresistible." Peter said smiling under his mustache while unintentionally interrupting Tyrell.

With a sigh, Tyrell tried to wait out the story, but his stomach had protested against him and told him to leave. Tyrell said goodbye to Peter, but he doubted he had heard him as he continued his story.

It was not that Tyrell did not like Peter. It was just that he had not eaten for quite a while, and his stomach would soon begin to digest itself if he didn't eat soon.

Upon exiting Peter's classroom, Tyrell began to make his way to the cafeteria with his Scroll as his guide.

…

When Tyrell had reached the Cafeteria, he saw it packed to the brim with multiple students. Rows upon rows of tables were filled with students and different teams. Some wore their combat attire while others had their uniforms on.

Tyrell had eventually found his way to where the food was distributed when he saw where students were coming from a doorway that led to what Tyrell guessed that the kitchens were located.

When he arrived he was utterly awestruck. So many different foods were displayed out for people to take. Some he recognized, but most of them were foreign to him. This much food was usually reserved for kings and their guests for a special occasion, but here they had this much food everyday!

Tyrell had grabbed himself a large plate for himself and began to choose from the large variety of different foods.

When he had exited from the kitchens he only chose the foods that he was mainly accustomed to, with a new choice. He simply grabbed two rolls of bread, a large piece of beef, a cooked fish, a "carton" of milk, and grabbed a slice of what was labeled as "pizza."

Most of the tables were occupied and Tyrell did not wish to bother the students and their friends. After looking around for a bit, he had managed to find a seat at the far end of a table near the windows.

The only other occupant was a small female student sitting alone at the very edge of the table by herself. Tyrell noticed that she had long dark brown hair and brown eyes. Upon her head were two fairly large rabbit ears that were hanging down.

' _Perhaps she is upset?'_ Tyrell thought as he neared the table. His thoughts were answered when he saw a few stray tears running down the sides of her face.

She seemed to not notice Tyrell until he had sat down right across from her at the table. When she looked up, and for a brief moment she had a look of awe and confusion, but it was quickly replaced with fear as she began to grab what remained of her lunch and was moving to leave.

Tyrell saw the fear and said, "Do not worry Miss. I do not wish you any harm." His words seemed to relax her somewhat, as she sat back down, but did not look him in the eye.

After removing his helmet and placing to his side, Tyrell had begun his meal with cutting up the beef and eating. It tasted much better than the small rations that everyone had to eat sparingly before he had left.

He continued to eat his meal and the young girl did not say a word for a while. Halfway through his beef and finishing up a roll of bread, Tyrell asked while keeping focus on his meal, "Do you have a name Miss?"

He looked up only slightly to see that she had been looking at him. When he met her gaze she quickly looked down and muttered, "Velvet Scarlatina."

"That is a nice name Miss. Scarlatina. I am Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel." He said as he gave her a small smile that she returned slightly. She had a strange accent, one Tyrell hadn't heard before, but it did not matter.

After returning to his meal he asked, "Is this your first year attending Beacon Miss. Scarlatina?"

"No. Actually this is the beginning of my second year here." Velvet responded. She seemed to smile a little as she thought of something that Tyrell did not know of.

"Are you enjoying your time here at Beacon?" Tyrell asked. At hearing this question, the smile disappeared and was replaced with a sad frown.

"Not of as recent. Since the beginning of the year I have been constantly bullied about my Faunus heritage. They don't stop pulling on my ears even when I tell them to stop." Velvet said as she rubbed her ears gently.

"Who are "they" Miss. Scarlatina?" Tyrell asked. She looked around slightly as if someone would hear her.

Seeing that the coast was clear Velvet answered, "I don't really know the names of most of them, but the ones that had given me trouble most in the past were team CRDL."

"In the past you say?" Tyrell said slightly confused. He had yet to meet Mr. Winchester's full team, or really know the mace wielder, so he could not take any side as of yet.

"Yeah. I was surprised myself, but ever since he and his team came back from their trip to the Forever Falls, they haven't bothered me all that much as of late. Although, there are a few occasions where they bother me and call me a… freak." Velvet whispered the word as she, and many of her kind, were called before.

Tyrell nodded, now understanding some of the story behind her apparent sadness when a question came to him.

"Miss. Scarlatina, where is your own team in your time of need? Miss. Goodwitch informed me that these teams were supposed to grow strong bonds within each team. Have they abandoned you?" Tyrell asked as he had stopped eating, with only the "pizza" slices remaining.

The girl's eyes widened as she quickly answered, "No not at all! Since we are a second year team, all of us have more responsibilities to take care of. The most time I spend with my team is mainly on missions and the weekends, but other than that I'm basically on my own."

Tyrell then said, "Well that is a shame to hear Miss. Scarlatina. Friends should always make time to spend with one another. If you ever need a friend Miss. Scarlatina, then I will gladly be one for you." He offered her a smile and she returned it with one of her own.

"Thank you Tyrell. Also, you can just call me Velvet." Velvet said as she began to pack up her things to leave.

Tyrell said, "It is no problem Velvet, I just prefer to address my students formally."

Velvet stood still for a few moments as she said nervously, "You're a… teacher?"

"Not entirely, I was offered a job to assist the teaching staff here at Beacon. We may be seeing more of one another in the future Velvet." Tyrell responded with a true smile as Velvet waved goodbye to him. When she turned away from him she had a defeated look on her face.

' _My first friend outside of my team and he's a teacher. Good job Velv.'_ She thought as she exited the cafeteria.

Tyrell returned to his last two pieces of food and picked up a slice of the new food he had yet to taste. When he took the first bite, his taste buds exploded with joy.

…

With still a little less than an hour left before he had to head over to Professor Oobleck's class, Tyrell had found the Beacon library.

It was massive, and dozens of tall bookshelves lined both sides of the spacious room. Tyrell saw desks where students were either working on homework, reading, or playing a game.

Tyrell stopped as he looked over at the table where he spotted Miss. Rose and the other seven from earlier this morning. They were making an awful lot of noise as they played their game.

' _Libraries are meant for reading or work.'_ Tyrell thought as he began to walk towards them.

Miss. Rose seemed to be crying out about the game. To Tyrell it seemed a little dramatic. The white haired girl seemed to be gloating about "conquering Remnant," but Tyrell thought that it had to do with the game.

Suddenly the girl with golden hair showed the white haired one a small card, and quickly switched a few things on the board and then the white haired girl slumped down to her seat while also crying about the game, dramatically.

Tyrell was still a few yards away, but the one wearing a bow must have heard Tyrell as he neared as she turned her head to face his direction.

She said something to her friends just as Tyrell finally arrived at the table. They all looked at him most in confusion, but one of joy. Miss. Rose said cheerfully, "Hello Professor! I want to introduce you to my team!"

"Hello Miss. Rose. Before you do I came by to tell you-" Tyrell didn't finish as he was cut off as Ruby stood up and began to introduce her teammates one by one.

"This is my sister Yang Xiao Long." Ruby said.

"Yo Professor." Yang said putting her hands behind her head and leaning her feet onto the table.

' _Sisters? But they look nothing alike.'_ Tyrell though.

"My partner Weiss Schnee." Ruby continued, but quickly added, "Also she's the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"A pleasure to meet you Professor." Weiss said with a slight nod of her head.

"And finally, my fellow teammate, and Yang's partner, Blake Belladonna." Ruby finished and happily sat back down into her seat.

"Hello." Blake greeted halfheartedly as she seemed distracted by something else.

Tyrell bowed his head slightly and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you all, but Miss. Rose I came here to-" He was again cut off as Ruby shot out of her seat again as she seemingly disappeared from existence for a split second. Only to reappear at the table behind them where the other four sat.

"These are our other friends from team JNPR, and their leader Jaune Arc." Ruby finished as she pushed Jaune over to stand in front of Tyrell.

To Tyrell, the boy was only a head shorter than himself. He was the same one that had lost to Mr. Winchester earlier today.

"Um… H-hello." He greeted nervously, and gestured to his own team. "The one with red hair is my partner Pyrrha Nikos, the girl in pink is our teammate Nora Valkyrie, and her partner Lie Ren." He finished as he pointed to each one of them.

Pyrrha offered a friendly, "Hello."

Ren simply nodded his head, and Nora had kept on sleeping on the open page of the book that Ren was reading.

"Again, it is a pleasure to meet you all, but Miss. Rose you and your friends have-"

"Sup nerds." Sun said cheerfully.

For the third time Tyrell was interrupted as Sun and his friend Neptune rounded the corner. Tyrell just decided to give up on the matter as he looked over to see the two as they came to his right side.

"Hey Sun." Ruby greeted.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Sir Knight, Ice Queen." Sun said.

"Hey!" Weiss called out annoyed. Tyrell frowned underneath his helmet but said nothing.

"I never formally introduced you guys to my friend Neptune." Sun said gesturing to the blue haired boy.

"Aren't libraries usually used for reading?" Neptune asked.

"Thank you!" Both Tyrell and Ren said in union, and the sleeping Nora woke up and shouted the word "pancakes."

"Where are you from, Neptune?" Weiss asked as she looked at the boy.

"Haven, and I don't believe that I've caught your name, Snow Angel." Neptune said as he walked closer to Weiss to talk to her directly.

"Uhh, I'm Weiss." The heiress said with a slight smile on her face as she and Neptune looked at each other.

Jaune looked upset over something, but Tyrell ignored it as Sun said to Blake, "I didn't take you for the board game type Blake."

"Yeah… I think I've had enough playing around for one day. If you need me, I'll be in our dorm." Blake said as she walked away without another word.

Her teammates, along with team JNPR, Sun, and Neptune, looked at her as she left, but Tyrell had been looking at the board that was used by RWBY.

It showed what appeared to be an entire map of Remnant. Tyrell had spotted where the four kingdoms and their borders were located, but saw one large unoccupied territory.

It resembled that of a dragon in a way to Tyrell, and then he asked Ruby, "Miss. Rose, is this an entire map of Remnant?"

All eyes were upon Tyrell, but he ignored them as he continued to look at the board/map.

"Uhh, yeah. It shows where all the kingdoms are located and everything." Ruby answered a little confused.

"This place here." Tyrell said pointing at the dragon like piece of land, He continued, "Is this place occupied by any of the kingdoms?"

"You mean here? No, none of the four kingdoms have been able to gain that territory due to the large amount of Grimm activity." Ruby finished as she looked at the new professor with confusion, as did everyone else. "Why do you want to know about it?"

"No reason that you or your friends have to concern yourselves with Miss. Rose. I simply wished to know if it was occupied or not." Tyrell responded.

"Okay. Well we need to be going Professor. It was nice to see you again." Ruby waved goodbye, as did a few of her friends, along with Sun and Neptune as they left the library.

Tyrell noticed that they had left the board game in the library, but he didn't say anything as he looked down at the map again with a smile underneath his helmet.

' _My Lord, I think that I just found where our new home will be.'_ Tyrell thought to himself as he packed up the board game up and dropped it off to the librarian at the front desk.

Tyrell then began to make his way over to Oobleck's class with a smile on his face.

* * *

 **Okay done. I thought that the fight between Cardin and Tyrell felt pretty even but let me know what you guys think.**

 **Also, I decided to not keep Cardin the same stereotypical "School Bully." I want to show some character development in team CRDL. Now they aren't going to play the largest role in the story, but they will change differently from how they acted in Volume 1. Although they will still be mean to others, they just won't bully as much. It's a slow process.**

 **Another thing, I am a little nervous about how I captured both Ruby's and Velvet's personalities. For Ruby I didn't want to make her too hyperactive like she was in the first episode of Volume 1 when she first arrived to Beacon, but also show some maturity since it's the second semester. As for Velvet, maybe I should of made her a bit more shy, but I don't know. Let me know what you guys think and if there should be any improvements.**

 **Last thing, I promise. We will be meeting Cinder and her two underlings next chapter.**

 **Well thank you all again for reading and I will talk to you all in the next chapter. Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**This is a rewrite of this chapter due to the bad quality of how I presented it previously. Sorry about that :(**

 **This rewrite will have grammar corrections, and both a different version of how it ends plus a few changes throughout the chapter.**

* * *

 **I am really sorry for the long delay from this chapter. I was being the lazy couch potato that I am and ignored writing this story for a week. In all honesty though, I didn't really feel the creativity when I wrote this chapter. It just didn't feel right, and to top it all off I would have had it out a few days sooner if my internet didn't cut out. Again I'm really sorry for the long delay on this chapter.**

 **On another note I am so happy that this story has received so much attention during its brief time since I uploaded the first chapter. Right now we are at 63 followers, 52 favorites, and over 6,000 views!**

 **Thank you all so much for the support and reviews and now onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Connections through the Void**_

After his brief meeting in the library with teams RWBY and JNPR, Tyrell had headed over to the next teacher he would be helping, Professor Oobleck. He made sure to arrive there before the break ended so he could properly meet the professor.

Looking around, Tyrell saw that the room was basically the same as the others, but with its own touch no doubt made by the professor.

Down the ramp in the bottom of the classroom sat a desk that seemed similar to Ozpin's, but this one was littered in a multitude of paper. Standing behind the desk was a rather thin looking man looking over some of said papers.

He wore tight, dark green pants and had a white shirt, the shirt being only slightly tucked into his pants. The collar of his shirt was raised up and a slack looking yellow fabric hung around his neck.

His green hair looked messy and rounded glasses covered his eyes. Tyrell noticed that the glasses were not clear glass, but rather white and covered the man's eyes.

Behind the professor sat a much larger scaled map of Remnant, but it was hard to make out as multiple pieces of paper covered the majority of the map.

Tyrell began to make his way down the ramp towards the professor as the man looked up from his paperwork to the new arrival.

In the blink of an eye, Oobleck had gone from standing behind his desk to the new arrival. Tyrell blinked as the man seemingly teleported himself to stand in front of Tyrell, it reminded him of Ms. Rose as she had done the same.

The professor just starred at the man in front of him with a neutral expression on his face. After a few moments of silence Tyrell spoke, "Excuse me, Professor Oobleck, I have come here to assist you in your teachings today."

The man still did not say anything to the knight, but seemed to rather be examining Tyrell's armor instead of responding.

"I am Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel. You are the history professor at Beacon, are you not?" Tyrell asked wondering if he had somehow arrived at the wrong classroom.

"That I am." Oobleck responded as he zipped behind Tyrell to look at both his shield and Greatbow with fascination.

"Then how may I be of assistance to you Professor Oobleck?" Tyrell said as he turned around to address the professor, but found empty space instead. Oobleck used his speed to stay behind Tyrell and continued to examine the Greatbow and its design.

The man suddenly appeared in front of Tyrell and looked up into his visor and said, "It's Doctor Professor Oobleck, and I would like you to answer me a few questions." Oobleck said as he zipped back to his desk and Tyrell, slightly dazed by the fast movements, walked over to stand in front of it.

"What questions would you ask me Professor?" Tyrell asked with slight suspicion of the man, but would wait to hear his questions.

Suddenly the man appeared in front of Tyrell again and launched a gauntlet of questions at the knight. "What armor is that? I have never seen anything like it before! Are you a knight?" Then talking to himself, "Of course you are, what Hunter would wear armor like that."

Turning back to him he continued, "What Order do you hale from? What kingdom do you live in? Or do you come from a village outside in the wilds?" Turning to the obscured map of Remnant, "Oh perhaps Atlas? They seem to hold onto the older forms of military. Are you some secret Order of knights sent to spy on Vale?"

Tyrell was beginning to become overwhelmed by the multitude of questions, and the fact that the man was talking just as fast as he moved did not help at all.

Oobleck continued, "Your weapons seem to consist of just a sword, shield, and a rather large bow that I have never seen before. Tell me, where on Remnant did you attain it?"

Thankfully, the talkative professor stopped his assault of questions and stayed silent, waiting for his response.

Thinking of his answer, Tyrell responded, "I am not from any of the four kingdoms of Remnant, but you were correct that I am from a small village far outside any of the kingdoms borders."

"Far outside any of the kingdoms borders?!" Oobleck echoed as he then said, "That is unheard of! No village has ever been able to survive without being within at least twenty miles of the main kingdoms."

"Well you would be wrong, Professor Oobleck, from my village we are strong warriors that could repel the Grimm that came our way. Most villagers are trained to become knights of our Lord to protect ourselves." Tyrell lied as he looked at the man who seemed to be in deep thought.

"I cannot say that I quite believe that to be true and I would need to see it for myself to believe you Sir Tyrell. But that raises the next question. If your warriors are able to fight off the forces of Grimm, then why are you here in Vale?" Oobleck asked as he narrowed his eyes slightly behind his glasses.

Tyrell calmly responded, "We need help. My Lord has sent me to seek aid from any of the four kingdoms to help us. While we are strong knights, the constant battle has torn up the land and ruined the chances to grow food for ourselves. We now need to find a new home for our village and her… citizens." Tyrell spoke softly of the last word as he recalled what his Lord had informed him of when they last spoke.

Oobleck picked up on the way that his voice shifted in tone, and was about to ask him why when the knight said, "Since you are the history professor here at Beacon, could you please teach me about what has recently occurred in the four kingdoms? It has been decades since our village was created and we have had no contact with any of the outside world."

Oobleck smiled as he now had the chance to teach yet another mind about the history of Remnant, even if only it was within the last half century.

Zipping up to the man, Oobleck shouted, "Of course! I would love to teach you, for a lot has occurred in the last few decades of Remnants history." Then smiling proudly, Oobleck continued, "For history is the most important part of our society. Without it, we are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past."

Tyrell smiled underneath his helmet, glad that the professor did not question him further and that he agreed help Tyrell learn more about Remnant. The students would be arriving in a few minutes so Tyrell asked, "So what should I do to help you Professor Oobleck?"

"For now I want you listen to my lecture on the Faunus rights movement to how it leads to the creation of the White Fang, and how eventually the organization changed. Also, I want you to keep an eye out for any students who are not paying attention. That will be all for you to do today, but coming next week there will be more work that I will need help with." Oobleck said as a bell rang out to signal that students had to arrive to class.

Tyrell nodded to Oobleck and walked over to the right side of the room and leaned against the wall as students began to arrive at the classroom.

…

To say that Professor Oobleck was fast would be an understatement. Tyrell had tried to keep up with the speedy professor as he _walked_ around the classroom.

Some of the students were also trying their best to focus on the professor, but most were not successful.

The only one that seemed to actually keep up with Oobleck was Ms. Schnee, but even she looked a little stressed at trying to write down all the notes that the professor wrote onto a spare blackboard. Only to have them up for a matter of ten seconds before erasing those completely and write the next part of the lecture upon the board.

The topic itself interested Tyrell somewhat. How the Faunus race were discriminated against by Humanity and in response they created what at first was a peaceful organization known as the White Fang.

Seeing that the organization was achieving little results over long periods of time led to the organization to take a more… violent approach.

They became what Oobleck called "terrorists" and were wanted men and women by the law.

They had conducted raids on metal snakes that carried large containers of Dust, and recently have been robbing stores for the precious resource.

Tyrell knew that this world had a different meaning for Dust that was different from the kind that covered objects after a prolonged period of time. He just hasn't seen the Dust that they were referring to yet.

As Tyrell listened in on the lecture, he also made sure to look around for any students that were not paying attention.

One student, a young man in his school uniform with brown hair, was busy talking to his neighbor that sat next to him. Tyrell stared at the boy until his neighbor pointed out that they were being watched.

When the boy turned to see the black visor of Tyrell's helmet looking at him he seemed to become unnerved from the stare and ceased talking.

Turning away from the student Tyrell had a small smile on his face as he thought, _'Glad to know that my appearance gets the message across.'_

As he continued to scan the room he noticed that all of team RWBY and Mr. Arc from team JNPR sat near the front of the room.

He saw that as Oobleck brought up the subject of the White Fang again Ms. Belladonna looked… upset? She didn't show any tears, but she had a noticeable frown and her eyes portrayed sadness as the professor continued on with the subject.

He would not question it now during class to not interrupt Oobleck, and he trusted Ms. Rose to handle any problems that happened inside her team.

"And that class is why by discriminating the Faunus, Humanity now has another enemy to face, this time within our own walls." Oobleck said as he came to a halt at the front of his desk. He then took another sip from him coffee and continued, "I want a thirty page essay on the events that led up to the Faunus rights movements and I want it done by this Friday. Class dismissed."

Audible groans of annoyance were heard throughout the classroom, but the professor ignored them as he said, "Do you wish for a forty page essay instead? I'll be glad to assign it to you all now." This caused the students to grow quiet and Tyrell chuckled softly to himself that the threat of more work made them fall silent.

With that final note the bell rang out and students left the classroom in a hurry as they went to attend their final class of the day.

As they were leaving, Tyrell walked over to Oobleck and said, "That was a very interesting lecture Professor Oobleck."

"Of course it was! I need to make sure that all of my students understand the full lessons that history has to teach us." Oobleck stated as he appeared behind his desk in a matter of a second.

Tyrell checked the clock on his Scroll and saw that he had enough time to ask the history professor one question.

"The White Fang, they are all Faunus and wish to harm Humanity?" Tyrell asked curiously, wanting to know more about Humanity's neighbors on this world.

"The White Fang are indeed an all Faunus group who harbor a deep hatred for Humanity. They are the Faunus who were beaten, slaved, bullied, discriminated… the list goes on." Oobleck said in a saddened tone. He adjusted his glasses so they were hanging lower on his nose to reveal brown eyes that looked at Tyrell with a serious look.

"They do not only wish to harm Humanity, but to eradicate us from the face of Remnant." Oobleck said in a dark tone.

Tyrell nodded and said, "This new information is very helpful Professor Oobleck, and I look forward to working with you in the future."

Oobleck smiled again and responded, "As I to look forward to working with an individual who wishes to learn of history. Have a good day Sir Tyrell."

With that Tyrell left the classroom and headed back to Ms. Goodwitch's class.

…

The rest of the day had gone by smoothly for the knight as he sparred against a few more of the students in Ms. Goodwitch's class.

Some had surprised Tyrell with their weapons and their unique design. One student had her weapon turn from a curved sword into a small firearm of sorts.

The projectiles were fast, but they lacked the impact as they had only bounced off Tyrell's shield and could only manage to make small dents in his armor if they managed to hit.

He used that to his advantage as he rushed the girl and it only took a few slashes to cut her Aura down into the red zone.

Another student had dual wielded weapons that resembled Scimitars, and could combine into a longer curved sword that had more range than the weapons did apart. He was fast, but when he repeatedly struck against Tyrell's defense he had grown short of breath and slowed down with his movements.

This was his downfall as Tyrell kicked the boy in his gut that sent him stumbling backwards. Tyrell then quickly two handed his straight sword and swung it down downwards that had cut the boy's Aura down nearly in half. He later had given up, and Tyrell was disappointed to see the forfeit of the spar.

It was currently evening and Dinner would be served at the Cafeteria in five minutes. Tyrell was currently on his way to the dining hall when he ran into Mr. Arc.

Well… it was more of Mr. Arc slamming into Tyrell's chest plate and falling onto his back from the sudden impact.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out as she kneeled down to see if the knight was okay.

"I'm terribly sorry for bumping into you Mr. Arc. Please, accept my apology." Tyrell apologized as he offered a hand to the boy. Jaune took the kind gesture and stood up.

"It's okay professor. It wasn't your fault." Jaune smiled as he let go of Tyrell's hand. He and his team were on their way to grab some dinner and to meet up with team RWBY.

' _What is that armor made of, two inch thick steel?!'_ Jaune thought as he looked up at the new professor. He was taller than Jaune by about a head and a half, and looked over his unique set of armor.

It covered him from head to toe and made for an intimidating appearance, but he found that the two small wings that sat atop his helmet made him look a little ridiculous.

"I assume that you and your team are off to grab dinner then?" Tyrell asked as he politely waved to the rest of team JNPR. Pyrrha gave a friendly wave while Ren gave a small nod towards him. Nora however grabbed the knight's hand and shook it with the force of five men.

"Nice to meet ya professor! I'm Nora and this is my best friend Ren!" Nora exclaimed happily as she let go of his hand.

Tyrell was slightly shaken by the mere strength the girl possessed, but quickly waved it off as he said, "Yes, I remember Miss Rose had introduced me to both her team and Mr. Arc's earlier in the library, but it is nice to remake your acquaintance."

"Umm yeah. We were just heading over Cafeteria now to grab seats and to meet RWBY." Jaune said as he looked up into the man's black visor. It unsettled him how he couldn't see his eyes beneath the helmet.

"I too am on my way there to indulge myself with food. If it is no trouble asking, what do they serve?" Tyrell asked as he was curious about the new delicacies that would be offered.

"Well they serve steak, burgers, mashed potatoes, French fries, pizza, beef, pork …" Jaune listed off the many different foods that Beacon served every night at Dinner. He lost himself in thought as he tried to come up with more food items to tell the new professor.

They couldn't see it, but Tyrell was watering at the mouth at the thought of all the different foods. Some he was familiar with, but even those would be better than even the best of the rations back home. If they were anything like the pizza that he had eaten earlier, then he was in for a treat.

"Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnd PANCAKES!" Nora shouted as she brought Jaune out of his thoughts and appeared behind the blonde leader with her arms stretched into the air in joy.

"Those are only served during Breakfast Nora." Ren finally spoke as he killed the joy that Nora had on her face as she slumped down with an audible "aww."

But as if a switch was flipped, Nora was back to her cheery self as she bounced in front of the knight in joy and asked, "Professor, can you have the Cafeteria serve Pancakes all the time? Pllleeeaaasse?"

Tyrell was confused on the question as he answered, "I'm sorry Ms. Valkyrie, but I'm afraid that I can't force the Cafeteria to change just from the request of one student." Then he asked, "By the way. What are Pancakes?"

It was an honest question as Tyrell had never heard of the food before, and the way that the girl seemed fond of them caused him to ask out of curiosity.

Nora's face, for the first time since both she and Ren were kids, had a look of horror on it. Her eyes were widened and her mouth agape as if she was screaming.

"Um… Ms. Valkyrie-" Tyrell began before Nora grabbed him by the wrist and was half pulling half dragging the knight through the hallway.

"Paging Dr. Valkyrie. Patient has low sugar levels and is in need of immediate fluffy heaven! Get him to the Cafeteria stat!" Nora shouted as she dragged the helpless knight through the hallway at a surprising speed.

"Ms. Valkyrie, unhand me now! I am in good health and do not require any of this 'fluffy heaven' that you speak of!" Tyrell shouted as he struggled against the girl's iron grip.

Ren just sighed and said, "Well we better go help out the professor before Nora gets both of them into trouble." He then began to follow where Nora had dragged the new professor, no doubt to the Cafeteria.

Both Jaune and Pyrrha just looked at where the scene had taken place. Nora had just dragged a man in full combat armor along with his weapons and shield against his will at breakneck speed like his life depended on it. And all because he asked the forbidden question to the Pancake lover.

They both looked at each other and laughed as Pyrrha said, "Well, at least our new professor has now _properly_ met Nora."

"Yeah. We better get going, Dinner is about to start and seats will be hard to come by." Jaune said as he started walking after the abducted professor.

Pyrrha smiled as she said, "Right behind you Jaune."

…

The trip to the Cafeteria had taken only a few minutes as Nora managed to run at full speed while pulling Tyrell with her, despite his struggles.

When they arrived students were already seated and eating their meals peacefully. A few looked away from their meal to see the Pink Valkyrie yanking at the wrist of the new professor as she led them to the kitchen.

None questioned the scene before them and went back to their meals as if they didn't see a man being pulled against his will towards the kitchens.

Nora pushed a few students out of the way as she slammed her free hand down onto the empty tray carried by one of the servers as she shouted, "I demand pancakes to be served!"

The server looked confused at first, but then he saw the fire in the girl's eyes and also noted the large hammer that she carried on her back.

The server responded fearfully, "I-I'm sorry miss, but w-we do not serve P-pancakes until Breakfast…"

The kitchen had grown silent as all attention was focused on Nora after the server's response. "M-miss?" The server said as he still had the look of fear in his eyes. By this time Nora had released Tyrell's wrist and he began to massage it gently as he too waited silently for her response.

"Okay." Nora said cheerfully as a huge smile came across her face. "I understand, and I guess I'll just have to wait until tomorrow then." It unnerved Tyrell how quickly the girl went from being dead serious, to happy and cheerful.

Turning towards Tyrell, Nora said, "Sorry professor, but I guess that you'll have to wait until Breakfast tomorrow to taste the awesome power of Pancakes!" At that the girl began to grab various foods on a plate that she grabbed. Most being sweets and desserts.

Tyrell took a deep sigh of relief as he grabbed his own plate to begin fetching his Dinner. He grabbed what was called a "Hamburger," along with a handful of "French Fries," a small salad, and a glass of water.

Just before he left the kitchen he apologized to the server for the young girl's actions. The server quickly thanked him and disappeared back into the kitchen. With that done, Tyrell left to find a place to sit and eat.

As he walked out he saw where Ms. Valkyrie had gone to sit with her team and RWBY. RWBY already had gotten their food and the rest of JNPR had returned from getting theirs.

Tyrell was surprised that he hadn't seen the rest of JNPR in the kitchen while Nora made her demands, but just assumed that they went to another part of the kitchen to grab their food.

Tyrell saw the mostly vacant table he sat at earlier with Ms. Scarlatina at Lunch and began making his way there. He passed by the two teams that he was most acquainted with so far until he heard an audile "Hey professor!"

Turning around he saw that the call had come from Ms. Rose as she waved him over. Not wanting to be rude, Tyrell walked back over towards them and said, "Yes Ms. Rose?"

"Why don't you sit with us professor?" Ruby asked as she noticed her new professor sitting by himself (save for Velvet) at Lunch earlier, and thought it would be nice to at least offer him a place at their table.

"Thank you for the offer Ms. Rose, but I wouldn't want to be a bother to you and your friends." Tyrell thanked the red hooded girl, but did not wish to cause an awkward atmosphere between teacher and student.

"No no! You wouldn't bother us, right guys?" Ruby asked as she looked both at her teammates and team JNPR.

"We would be happy to have you sit with us professor." Weiss said in a calm and happy voice.

"As long as you're not giving us lectures or homework, I'm good." Yang said with a small smile. Blake just nodded her head and continued reading her book, having already finished her meal.

"Please professor, take a seat." Pyrrha offered the seat next to Jaune and the blonde knight nodded his head to confirm that it was okay.

"Thank you for the company." Tyrell thanked as he took the seat next to Mr. Arc and placed his plate down.

Once he took off his helmet to begin eating, Tyrell noticed a few stares pointed his way just as he was about to try some of the fries he had gotten from the kitchen.

"Is there something wrong?" Tyrell asked as he saw everyone, including Blake, all looking at him. They all have not seen him without his helmet yet and were curious as to how he looked.

"If you don't mind me asking professor, how old are you?" Weiss asked in general curiosity. The man before her looked older than her, but a little too young to be a professor at Beacon.

"I am twenty years of age Ms. Schnee, and I do not mind." Tyrell responded. "Why do you ask?"

This time Pyrrha spoke up and said, "You just look young to be working at Beacon as a professor is all."

"And handsome too." Yang purred as she looked into his dark gray eyes. She noticed the red color that they also held, but decided not to question it.

Ruby suddenly had a look of disgust on her face as she said, "Eww Yang! Don't begin flirting with the professor! That's really creepy."

"Oh calm down Rubes I was just complimenting the man. Besides, I saw how the Ice Queen was looking at him. Want to ask him on a date Weiss?" Yang said.

"Hey! And no! It is very unprofessional and as Ruby said, 'creepy', to flirt, let alone date, one of our teachers." Weiss said in an irritated voice.

"Oh come on Weiss, we all know that you want to just give him a big kiss on the lips." Yang teased with a large smile on her face as she did her favorite activity besides fighting, teasing the crap out of her teammates.

Weiss was slightly red in the face and quickly began eating her food so she could ignore the fiery blonde's teasing.

Tyrell was confused at first, but just shrugged it off as he and the rest of the table began to laugh together.

After a few minutes had passed, Ruby asked, "So professor, which kingdom are you from?"

Used to telling the lie by now, Tyrell answered, "I am actually not a part of any of the four kingdoms that rule Remnant, but I am just from a small village far outside the borders of any of the four."

"Really? I've never heard of any village surviving that far outside the kingdoms before. What's your village like?" Ruby asked as she rested her head on top of her knuckles in anticipation.

"As your kingdoms have Hunters to protect your people, my village has Knights. Our village had been standing tall for decades and our Knights help protect the walls that keep out the Grimm." Ruby, along with everyone else, were listening to the new professor as he went on to tell them about his village, until Weiss asked a question.

"If your Knights have protected your village for so long, then how come you don't have your Aura unlocked?" Weiss questioned. Everyone had been thinking the same question, but Weiss was the first to voice it.

"Yes, as you all had seen earlier today with my fight with Mr. Winchester, I have not yet unlocked my Aura. In fact, none of our Knights have theirs unlocked." Tyrell stated simply.

This caused for a state of shock to fall over all the students at the table. "What? How are any of your Knights, or citizens, alive?" Weiss asked in disbelief as to any of them it seemed impossible to survive outside the kingdoms walls without Aura.

The mention of citizens caused Tyrell to remain silent for a brief moment until he answered, "Our Knights are strong warriors on the battlefield. We all are not easily toppled and our numbers are vast."

"I'm sorry professor, but I would need to see this for myself to believe it." Weiss said. Ren, Yang, and Pyrrha all nodded their heads in agreement with Weiss as they too didn't believe the professor.

"No need for apologies Ms. Schnee, I understand that it is difficult to believe what I say." Tyrell said in understanding.

"Why are you here then?" The question came from Blake and it was the first time that she had spoken to Tyrell since they had met.

"Our village is dying." Tyrell said in a saddened tone. The way his voice changed caused a few of the students to have uneasy looks, especially Ruby.

"Dying? What do you mean by that professor?" Pyrrha asked him so he could elaborate on what he meant.

"Our village is dying, but not from the Grimm. Rather it seems that Mother Nature has turned her back on us. The land that we have lived off of for so long has died from countless battles, and now it is impossible to grow food and retrieve water. And to make matters worse, a famine has settled itself onto our village." Tyrell said.

He then continued, "I was sent here by my Lord to seek aid from the closest kingdom to our village, which happened to be Vale. My Lord has tasked me to see if I can secure our people a new home while he stays there to… _comfort_ the citizens as the remaining food and water slowly runs out."

"I'm… sorry to hear that." Blake said as she lowered her book down to look at the professor in the eye. His face showed that he was telling the truth, but something in his eyes told her of something else.

"You mentioned that you had a Lord right? I thought that all villages had a small council to make decisions for them?" Ruby said confused as she thought back to what she learned about villages back in Signal.

Not expecting the new piece of information, Tyrell quickly thought of an excuse to ward off any suspicion the students might have.

After coming up with one he said, "Our village was once small as most villages are. As we traveled we ran into other mobile villages and joined forces to fight back against the Grimm."

After taking a bite from his burger (which had a good taste to it) and swallowing he continued, "After the village was created, there used to be one representative from each village that had made up the council."

He then continued with, "At one point the councilmen began to disagree with one another and arguments would run on for days. This eventually began affecting the people that were previously from different mobile villages before we combined forces. We were on the brink of a civil war."

Tyrell took a moment to catch his breath as Nora piped in saying, "What happened?"

"When anger and hate was high, a large number of Grimm had begun to attack our village. Just when we thought that we would be wiped off the face of Remnant, my Lord came to our rescue."

Tyrell then smiled slightly as he remembered his Lord when they had first met in the old Lord of Cinder's keep in Anor Londo.

"He was like a god on the battlefield, but not just on the battlefield, but off it as well. He devised plans that organized the villagers that were able to fight that allowed positions to eventually be taken back."

"He was able to push off the Grimm forces in a matter of two days. He united our people and saved us from being wiped out." Tyrell continued to smile despite the fact that he was lying through his teeth.

"That was when our village removed the council system and instead placed my Lord as the leader of our people." Tyrell finished as he looked around the table.

There were looks of awe, respect, and even one of fear, but Tyrell was thankful that they had believed his tale.

Ren spoke up and said, "He sounds like a true leader, and deserves to be your lord."

"Yeah, I'd like to meet this guy one day. He sounds like he could put up a good fight." Yang said as she cracked her knuckles together.

"Oh me to! Me to!" Nora chanted as she was literally bouncing in her seat with excitement.

Tyrell just smiled and laughed lightly as he thought, _'All of Remnant will meet my Lord shortly.'_

…

After waving goodbye to both team RWBY and JNPR, Tyrell had visited the library to research the continent area that he had seen earlier on Ms. Rose's board game.

Apparently, there was indeed a large amount of Grimm that occupied the continent. This worried Tyrell as he was unsure if he should tell his Lord of this land.

On one hand, it would be a remote area where the kingdom could move to without interfering with the other four kingdoms. The continent had vast forests and plenty of farmland to grow food. Not to mention a great lake that sat towards the southern part of the land mass.

Sadly on the other hand, the kingdom would constantly be in battle against the Grimm creatures, and they have proven themselves deadly to the knight. He would have to ask his Lord for his decision when he delivered the news next time they spoke.

He had barrowed a book from the library on the Grimm and their known weaknesses to research. He was on his way back to his room when he came across two students.

At least he thought they were students at first. Upon seeing them in their own uniform he saw that theirs was relatively the same as Beacon's, but just in black.

The male student was tall with silver hair and grey eyes like Tyrell's, although his lacked the slight red tint that the knight possessed. He carried himself as if he did not care about anything at the moment, and had both hands inside his pockets.

The female student was slightly shorter than the male, and had a darker skin tone than her friend. Her hair looked white with a light shade of green and came down to the sides of her head.

Her crimson colored eyes looked at Tyrell as he neared the two passing students.

Just as he was about to come across the two, the silver haired boy stuck his foot out in front of the girl and tripped her. She crashed into Tyrell, but ended up leaning on him for a moment instead since he wouldn't fall that easily.

She quickly removed herself from the knight and put her hands behind her back saying, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to fall into you like that. I guess my friend here decided it would be funny to trip me."

Emerald said as she glared over at Mercury as he looked away and began whistling as if nothing had happened. Tyrell looked at the male and said, "It is not kind to treat one's own friend in such a manner."

"Oh come on its not like she broke her ankle or anything." Mercury said in a non caring voice.

"I could have been hurt." Emerald said in an irritated tone.

Suddenly Mercury put on a look of concern and says sarcastically, "Oh Emerald, my dearest friend, did you break a nail? Oh I'm so sorry."

"It is one thing to hurt someone on purpose, but another to not apologize properly young man." Tyrell said as he crossed his arms and starred at the sarcastic student.

"Are you okay?" Tyrell asked Emerald as she shifted her focus back onto the knight.

"Yes I'm fine. Thanks for asking Mr.…?" Emerald wasn't sure how to address the man in front of her.

"Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel, at your service." Tyrell said with a bow of his head. Mercury snickered at the gesture and folded his arms.

"And you two are?" Tyrell asked.

"I'm Emerald, and the fool's name is Mercury." Emerald said while bringing one hand from behind her back to thumb backwards towards Mercury.

"I'm afraid I have not seen you around here before. Those uniforms are rather new to me." Tyrell said as he was not sure where they came from.

"Oh well we're here to compete in the upcoming tournament. We're visiting from Haven located in Vacuo." Emerald clarified.

"A tournament? This is the first I heard of it." Tyrell said in confusion.

Both Emerald and Mercury looked at one another with confused looks of their own before Mercury said, "You know, the Vytal Festival? Held every year in Vale? People from all over the world come to compete in the tournament? Any of this ring a bell?"

"I'm not from Vale, or any of the four kingdoms for that matter. This is the first I've heard of this event." Tyrell said as he looked at both students that were giving him odd looks.

"Well, it's a really interesting event and maybe you should look into it." Emerald said with a smile on her face.

Tyrell nodded and said, "If I have time I will look into it. Thank you for informing me with this information Emerald. To the both of you, have a good night." With that Tyrell walked away and turned around the corner.

Once he was out of sight Emerald dropped the fake smile she was holding up in front of the knight and said, "Well he sure was interesting." The sarcasm in her voice was clearly noticeable.

"I don't know. His armor looked kinda cool. I've never seen anything like it and that Greatbow was impressive to say the least. Think he may be a threat?" Mercury asked his partner in crime.

"I doubt it, but we can tell Cinder if it will make baby Mercury feel better." Emerald said mockingly as Mercury grew a look of annoyance on his face.

"About that walking tin can? I could take him with both arms tied behind my back." Mercury stated.

Emerald smirked as she said, "But you use your feet instead when it comes to fighting." Mercury was about to retort when he realized that she was right.

"Whatever. So did you grab it?" Mercury asked.

"Ha. Like it was a problem. Although, you tripping me was not how I wanted to pickpocket the guy." Emerald said in slight anger to Mercury as she brought up Tyrell's small pouch that she had taken when she had bumped into him.

"Hey, it made a good excuse for you to get close to the guy, so I don't know why you're complaining." Mercury said as he put his hands back into his pockets.

"Okay, whatever. Let's just get back to Cinder so we can tell her the information we gathered." Emerald said as she began to walk towards the guest rooms.

"Lead the way o'wise saint Emerald." Mercury said mockingly as he followed his partner.

…

After they arrived to their room, both Emerald and Mercury informed Cinder of all the new information that they had gathered on Beacon during the day along with their run in with the knight.

"I thought I instructed you both to keep a low profile while we're here." Cinder said. Her orange eyes glowed slightly at the disregard to her orders. Both Mercury and Emerald each had a small look of worry on their face when they saw her eyes glow.

"We're sorry Cinder, but the guy was just begging to get pick pocketed." Emerald said as she still held the look of worry even after Cinder's eyes stopped glowing.

"Yeah, it was really easy too. The tin can didn't even suspect Emerald when she _accidentally_ fell into him." Mercury said with a small smirk as he looked at his partner.

"If by 'accidentally' you mean that you tripped me, than yes I accidentally fell into the guy." Emerald said back in annoyance as she lost her worried look, and was replaced by a furrowing of her brow.

"Both of you. Quiet." Cinder ordered as she looked at her two subordinates.

"Yes ma'am." Both Emerald and Mercury said in union as they stopped bickering immediately at Cinder's command.

Cinder let out a deep sigh as she said, "Was there at least anything of value in the pouch you stole."

"We haven't taken a look inside of it yet." Mercury said in his usual bored tone as he snatched it away from Emerald and began to undo the small buckle that kept the thing shut.

"Hey! I was the one who stole it." Emerald said as she tried to grab it back from the taller boy, but to no avail as he held it up and out of her reach. Emerald soon gave up and Mercury gave a satisfied smirk as he undid the buckle.

Once it was removed, Mercury brought it back down and reached inside to take out whatever was inside. When he withdrew his hand he was holding three Prism Stones, two emitted a red color while the third was yellow.

"Seriously? Stones? The tin can carries stones around in his pockets." Mercury said with a look that screamed disappointment. "Where's all the Lien?"

At that Emerald grabbed the pouch away from Mercury and looked inside the small pouch herself. Her face went from interest to downright confused as she said, "What is this?"

"What is what?" Mercury said dropping the stones onto the floor as he turned to his partner. "What did you find?"

Emerald didn't respond at first, her face still reading that of confused.

"What is it Emerald?" Cinder asked with slight interest as she looked at the small pouch.

"You best look at it yourself Cinder." Emerald said while handing the bag over to her superior.

Cinder grabbed the bag in her right hand and looked inside to see what got one of her second in commands so confused. What she saw made her eyes widen slightly.

There sitting at the bottom of the pouch was a small black flame with a strange white outline. It seemed to move on its own, like a fire did. It touched the leather of the pouch, but did not burn it with its touch.

Cinder became just as confused as Emerald had, but instead of just starring at the small flame, she reached inside the leather bag and grabbed it.

To her surprise, it did not burn her as a fire would have, but instead felt cold. Cinder brought it up to so that the others could see it. Now everyone in the room had a look of confusion.

"What is that? Some sort of fire?" Mercury asked curiously as he looked into the pitch black part of the flame.

As if upon hearing his words, the flame began to move like a fire brushed by wind in all directions. Cinder was worried at first, but mostly curious to see what the black flame would do.

To everyone's surprise, it began to grow larger in Cinder's palm. It widened and grew in height, but stopped once it reached Cinder's chest. Instead of being the size of a Scroll, it now was the size of a small tablet.

"Umm. That was-" Mercury began but was immediately cut off as a loud voice emitted from the flame.

"WHERE IS THE SENTINEL?!" Abell shouted as he was met with the face of a woman he did not recognize instead of the first Knight of Omen.

A white phantom image of Abell appeared from inside the Humanity Sprite, and both Emerald and Mercury were surprised to see that his armor resembled that of the knight they ran into earlier, but with a demonic twist to it.

The room was silent at first. All eyes were upon Abell, but he did not care as he repeated in a calmer (but still angered) voice, "Where is the Sentinel? How did you get a hold of his sprite?"

"Who is the Sentinel?" Cinder spoke first out of the three in the room. Both the flame, or sprite as it is called, and the man _inside_ the sprite had caught her full attention and interest.

"I… I think he means the guy we ran into earlier Cinder." Emerald finally spoke. Still amazed at what she was seeing. "I think his name was Sir Tyler, or something."

"His name is Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel, foolish girl. He is a knight in my army, and I demand to know what you have done to of attained his sprite." Abell said turning his phantom form to the girl with crimson eyes.

Mercury lost the confused look on his face and stepped forwards towards the phantom image and said, "Look here pal. We didn't hurt your tin can friend; we simply stole from him and found this… 'sprite' when we looked through his stuff." Mercury was starting to get annoyed with this guy.

"So you stole it from him. You will pay for your crimes once I've arrived there boy." Abell stated as both he and Mercury glared at one another.

"Oh yeah? Bring it-" Mercury began but didn't finish as Cinder cut him off.

"Stand down Mercury." Cinder ordered as she sent a look towards the silver haired male. Mercury sneered at Abell before stepping back besides Emerald.

Once she addressed Mercury, Cinder focused her attention back onto the flame and the man as she said, "We did not hurt the Sentinel if that is what you are thinking. Might I have a name?"

"Abell, the Ashen Lord. And you?" Abell said it as more of an order rather than a question.

Cinder replied, "Cinder Fall. And my two subordinates Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black." As she said this she pointed to the two other occupants of the room and named them.

"Well, you are more civilized than Black is to say the least." Abell said loud enough for Mercury to hear. The silver headed teenager folded his arms and sent a death stare at Abell, but the Ashen Lord ignored it as he looked to Cinder.

"I've never seen anything like this sprite before, nor have I ever heard of you. Care to explain?" Cinder said as she looked into the sprite at Abell.

"I am on a mission to save my people and Tyrell was sent ahead as my scout." Abell gave them as little detail as possible since he was unsure if he could trust these people.

"And what would that mission include?" Cinder asked as she starred into Abell's blackened visor.

The Ashen Lord scoffed at the question and replied, "What makes you think that I will simply tell you of my plans and mission? Do you take me a fool?"

Mercury was about to say something, but Emerald elbowed him in the side to shut him up before he said anything.

"Not at all. I just thought that we could help one another." Cinder said with a fake disappointed look on her face.

Abell ignored the look of disappointment, but was slightly interested and said, "And how would you plan on helping me?" Cinder had his attention and she knew it. She would bait him into making an alliance to help her with her own plans.

"I run an organization that has been gathering resources for almost a year now and run a small army that will help me fulfill my plans. If you tell me your mission then I can help you, and in return you would help me." Cinder paused to see how the man would respond.

"How would I help you?" Abell asked curiously as he observed the woman trying to make a deal with him.

"You mentioned that the Sentinel was a part of your army. Correct?" Cinder asked.

"Yes." Abell simply said, already seeing how he would help her.

"You would help me by combining our armies together, and the addition of your soldiers would accelerate my plans." Cinder said with a small smile as she waited for his response.

Abell thought for a few minutes on his decision. It would do no harm in telling her about his mission, but he would leave out _how_ he would execute it.

"My mission is to save my people from the dying lands that we live on. Many have died from the famine that has taken over my kingdom, and both our food and water are slowly running out. If you can provide land, food, and water for my kingdom, then I promise you that my forces will work alongside yours." Abell finished his demands for what he would require if he was to help this woman. He silently awaited her response.

Cinder then asked, "You say that you run a kingdom. I'm not sure if I can provide enough of what you need if I am to support an entire kingdom. How large is your kingdom Abell?"

Abell thought back to all the information Tyrell had informed him about Remnant so far. Abell simply stated, "If you were to take all four of your kingdoms and were to combine them, I would estimate around that number." Emerald and Mercury both audibly gulped at Abell's words.

Cinder was now both very worried and excited. _'If what he says is true… we could not only take over Vale, but all of Remnant as well. But first I need to know if he speaks the truth.'_

"There are no kingdoms that large on Remnant Abell. How am I supposed to trust what you say when you do not speak the truth?" Cinder asked skeptically of the man.

Abell began to chuckle at the woman's question. Cinder's expression went from that of skeptical to that of slight annoyance at his laughter. Abell then said, "Do you recall how you have never heard of me or have seen this sprite before?"

"Yes I do. Why?" Cinder asked as she narrowed her eyes slightly at the man inside of the sprite.

Abell chuckled again, but this time it was darker as he then said, "The Sentinel, that sprite that you currently hold in your hand, and I are not of your world." Silence gripped the room once again after Abell spoke those words.

* * *

 **Okay. This is the rewritten version of Ch.10 and I hope that you all found it of better quality than the previous version. I am sending a shout out to the reviewer "Jex – The Insane One" for giving me the idea of Cinder mentioning resources to Abell to make him consider making a deal with her. Thanks man for the idea and I hope you don't mind if I use it.**

 **Thank you all for reading and I will talk to you all in the next chapter.**

 **P.S. -** **I will forever remember how badly I messed up on the ending for Ch.10 previously, and for that I will go sit in the corner to think about my mistakes. (Puts on DUNCE cap and walks over to the corner).**


	11. Chapter 11

**Before I started writing this chapter, I went back and redid Ch.10. Now it is relatively the same chapter, but I tried to make it feel less rushed and changed the ending. So I would recommend rereading Ch.10 (or just the ending of it) so that way you can be caught up with the story.**

 **Two quick things to note. First, in a few days it will be my birthday and I'll be seventeen so happy birthday to me! Second, I'll be starting school next week and might even have a part time job to attend so I'm unsure when the next chapter will be put up. Until I get my schedule worked out, I might have to put this story on pause for a little bit, and I apologize in advance for that if it does happen.**

 **Okay now that that is all said and done. Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Fires Far: Part I**_

Tyrell was angry, worried, and a little fearful all at the same time. When he had returned to his room after talking to the two Haven students, Emerald and Mercury, he had found his pouch that contained all his belongings in it gone.

It was not on his person, and he had even doubled back through the hallways to see if it had fallen off by mistake.

"Where could it of…" Then thinking back to how Mercury tripped Emerald into him and the girl collided with him. He had checked where he had met them already and came to a conclusion. The girl had stolen it off his person and made off with it.

"You little brat." Tyrell snarled slightly at how easily he was pick pocketed by someone younger than him! They would soon, if they had not already, find the Humanity sprite resting inside the small pouch. If they did they would surely grow suspicious of the Sentinel and might even report it to the Headmaster.

If they did that then he would be found out and only the old lords would know what his fate would be then.

Then, another worrying thought plagued Tyrell's already worried mind. What if his Lord tried to contact him while the two had the sprite in their possession?

Tyrell couldn't begin to imagine how his Lord would react if he were to contact the sprite and not find the Sentinel, but rather two troublesome teenagers instead.

"I must retrieve the sprite at any cost." Tyrell pledged to himself. However, it was far past the students' curfew hour and he didn't even know where to start. The maze that was Beacon was still hard to navigate for the knight, even with the help of his Scroll.

Taking a frustrated sigh, the Sentinel decided to save his energy for tomorrow. He still had a job to perform at Beacon and would retain his cover as an assistant teacher for now.

' _Remnant must not know of my Lord's coming until they have already arrived.'_ Tyrell thought to himself as he removed his Silver Knight armor and weapons. He then proceeded to lie down in the bed to try to attain some sleep.

With the worrying thoughts of losing the sprite and how his Lord might react, Tyrell was unsuccessful in achieving a peaceful rest.

…

 _Tyrell had awoken to find himself in the endless void of the Abyss. He was back in his Silver Knight armor, and his straight sword was at his side. However both his shield and Greatbow were not on his person._

 _It felt as if he was floating in midair, but when he moved to walk his feet touched a solid surface._

' _Is this some sort of dream?' Tyrell wondered as he began to walk around the endless chasm. He knew that there was nothing here. So why was he dreaming that he was here?_

 _Suddenly a foggy white mist began to rise from the floor beneath the knight and came up to his knees before it ceased rising._

" _What is this?" Tyrell asked aloud. Not sure what to make of the mist or why it was here in the Abyss._

 _He received no answer but the silence that the chasm held. Rather he heard a low moaning sound emitting seemingly from everywhere at once. It sounded like those of the ghosts that haunted the old New Londo ruins._

 _More moans began to emit from seemingly nowhere as they not only grew in number, but in volume as well._

 _They loud moans were becoming deafening and forced Tyrell to one knee as they only grew louder. Just as he thought that he would lose his hearing, they stopped completely._

 _As if a switch was flipped the moans grew silent and silence once again claimed the Abyss. Tyrell was now confused as the dull ringing in his ears began to go away. Why was he dreaming of the Abyss?_

 _Something began to rise from the floor of the mist. Tyrell soon realized that it was a Humanity sprite. Soon more and more sprite rose from the mist until there was, if he counted correctly, about one hundred in total._

" _My Lord! Is this somehow your doing?! Is this my punishment for losing the Humanity sprite?" Tyrell shouted out into the black void and could even hear his voice echoing._

" _My Lord please answer me! Is this you're doing?"Tyrell asked again but received nothing for an answer._

 _Suddenly, one of the Humanity sprites began to move in a strange way. It looked as if it were exploding, but remained the same size._

 _After a few moments it began to expand, but not in the way one would expect. Instead of growing larger in size, hundreds of small white tendrils began to grow from the sprite itself. They reminded Tyrell of a human's veins in a way as he continued to observe the sprite's expansion._

 _The tendrils began to spread at a much faster rate than before as they began to bend and shift into what resembled a human form. There were two arms, two legs, and the tendrils clustered together to make a head of sorts made of twisted tendrils._

 _Then the sprite began to expand itself large and wide enough to fit the size of the human like entity._

 _The head of the entity moved looked up at the sprite and raised its hand to touch the sprite. As if it was entering through a fog gate, the entity stepped through the enlarged sprite and appeared on the other side with its form changed._

 _Instead of being just made up of the hundreds of white vein like tendrils, it looked as if it were a human covered in a Humanity sprite. Black flames covered the entirety of the entity's body and in the middle of it burned a glowing white orb._

 _Two small glowing white orbs appeared inside the things eye sockets. Those two glowing orbs locked themselves onto Tyrell. The thing began to make its way towards the Sentinel with its hand stretched out, as if wanted to grab him._

" _Stay back." Tyrell warned as he drew his Silver Knight sword and pointed it at the entity that refused to halt in its movement._

 _Tyrell then took a quick look at his surroundings to find a worrying sight. Multiple of the Humanity sprites began to look as if they were halted while exploding and white tendrils grew from them._

 _Some were more along than others as he saw a few more of the Humanity covered entities moving towards him. All with one arm reached out to seize him._

 _They surrounded Tyrell on all sides. He was outnumbered ten to one and without his shield. He smirked underneath his helmet._

' _It wouldn't be fair otherwise.' Tyrell thought as the first entity came into striking distance of the Sentinel. One handing his sword, Tyrell struck the entity with a horizontal swing. When the sword had connected with the chest of the entity, instead of blood, white mist shot out of it instead._

 _The blow didn't seem to bother the thing at all as it only took a single step backwards, but then continued its advance. Tyrell quickly rolled behind the entity just as it grabbed the air where Tyrell once stood. Knowing what he was about to do, Tyrell backstabbed the entity._

 _Unlike his fight with Mr. Winchester, the sword had plunged through his opponent and came out the other side. More of the white mist escaped from the thing as Tyrell brought his right boot up and kicked the thing off his sword._

 _It had tried to get itself up, but failed as it simply erupted into a small cloud of white mist that proceeded to fall back into the fog._

' _They're not tough opponents, but they still have the advantage of numbers on their side.' He thought as two more of the entities appeared in front of him._

 _Gripping the hilt of his sword with both hands, Tyrell quickly thrusted the straight sword into the left shoulder of the entity to his left. Quickly, he used his strength to cut the limb clean off before moving his sword to swipe away the hand of the entity to his right._

 _The left one, now down by an arm, rose and tried to rush the knight to try tackling him to the ground. Tyrell saw it coming and used the momentum of his opponent against them as he spun around the charging entity._

 _It missed its intended target and fell to the ground face first into the fog. Taking the opportunity, Tyrell back stepped to get away from the still standing entity, and quickly stomped down on the grounded one's head. It exploded into a cloud of white mist as its companion had and the cloud disappeared back into the fog._

 _After finishing off the grounded entity, Tyrell looked up only to see the second entity tackle him to the ground. Its touch was cold enough where Tyrell felt it even through his armor. Then he began feeling weaker the longer the thing held onto him._

 _Still with enough strength, Tyrell managed to kick the entity off of him. It had fallen onto its back and Tyrell was quick to act. Aiming his sword downwards, the Sentinel plunged his straight sword right into the glowing white orb that resided in its chest._

 _The orb exploded and the two white orbs that made up its eyes slowly died out as it erupted into mist._

 _He was feeling drained of his energy when the entity had came into contact to him. If he were to allow them to touch him again, he might not be able to fight back._

 _Looking away from where his third opponent died, Tyrell saw that all of the sprites had created full entities. They all began to march forward towards the Sentinel._

 _Tyrell had fought hard. He had lost count on how many he had killed after he passed thirty seven. He didn't notice it before, but he looked down at his armor and weapon. Both had shown damage and would be in need of repairing very soon._

 _His Silver Knight armor was being corroded in a way until it no longer held its silver color, but instead a blackish grey. The sword, after slaying many of the entities, had chips and small cracks in it. One of the guard pieces had broken off and it had grown darker along with his armor._

 _The entities still came at him as he thought of these things, but even in his weakened state, Tyrell could still put up a fight._

 _After managing to kill three more entities, with one of them able to latch onto him again and further tire him, the others seemed to stop._

 _Tyrell was surprised to see this as they had been constantly attacking him for what felt like hours to the Sentinel._

 _Tyrell watched as the entities began to kneel down on one knee wherever they stood. Tyrell waited as he saw a noticeable disturbance in a far off patch in the fog._

 _Then, just like before, another Humanity sprite rose from the fog and began to create another human figure out of the white tendrils._

 _When the entity stepped through the enlarger humanity sprite, it appeared far different from the ones before._

 _Instead of just looking like the previous entities, this one had come equipped with armor. Tyrell froze as he recognized the armor._

 _It was the same armor worn by the Ashen Knights under his Lord. Where the normal black visor was, was now replaced with the same white glow that emitted from the other entities._

" _What is this?" Tyrell asked aloud to the new entity, but received no response as it starred directly at Tyrell. It then proceeded to reach its hand outwards like the others had, but this time something else occurred._

 _The now kneeling entities began to disintegrate into the white mist as they did when they fell, but instead of returning into the fog, the clouds of mist went towards the armored entity's outstretched hand._

 _The mist surrounded the entity's hand for a single moment before the mist began to transform itself into a_ weapon!

 _Tyrell was unsure at first, but soon saw that it had formed into one of the legendary weapons of his Lord. The Black Knight Greataxe._

 _Of his Lord's knights, only the Old Guard had the privilege to wield such a weapon of great power._

 _The Old Guard was just under the Knights of Omen when rank came into play, but many of the Old Guard were just as powerful._

 _After the mist finished creating the mighty weapon, it had held a white glow to it for a short time before turning pitch black. Tyrell could only see it as the white orb in the new entity's chest was much brighter than those that the Sentinel had fought._

 _Then it began to sprint towards the Sentinel._

 _Tyrell was caught off guard at the speed of the entity as it was upon him in a matter of seconds. Unable to block with his sword, Tyrell felt the horizontal swing of the Greataxe plunge into his chest._

 _The corroded armor gave away easily and left a deep wound that began to bleed profusely. The entity removed its weapon from Tyrell's chest, causing more blood to spill out of him, and proceeded to slam the weapon onto the ground._

 _It stayed in that position for only a brief moment before the entity swung the massive weapon upwards that had not only cut his sword in half (as he attempted to block), but had left a vertical gash that intersected with the horizontal wound._

 _Tyrell was too tired to scream as the immense pain from the blows coursed throughout his body, but instead let out a painful moan as Tyrell fell to his knees._

 _The powerful entity then grabbed Tyrell by the throat. Its iron grip tightening around his neck as he began to choke for air. The entity reared back its massive Greataxe so that it was above its head._

 _Tyrell could only look as the entity brought down the Black Knight Greataxe, aiming to behead the Sentinel._

 _Just as it was about to reach his neck, it stopped. The dark blade of the weapon was a mere inch away from Tyrell's neck. The entity then released the Sentinel from its grip and melted down into mist and went back into the fog._

 _The fog then dissipated and Tyrell was alone in the Abyss yet again as he lost consciousness._

…

Tyrell awoke at the sound of a small beeping noise that began to grow annoying to the knight. After finding out that it was his Scroll, Tyrell turned the device on to see that it was time to get ready for today's work.

Tyrell put his Scroll down on the nightstand and sat up in his bed. According to how his sheets were, he was thrashing around in his sleep. Tyrell also noticed that he, along with his leather clothing, had been soaked in sweat.

"What was that nightmare? Does my Lord have anything to do with it?" Tyrell asked himself as he removed his leather shirt. Thankfully, there were no marks of where the armored entity had struck, but he still felt the blows as if they had actually occurred.

Getting up from his bed, Tyrell began to get ready for his second day at Beacon. After fixing the sheets and strapping on his armor. Tyrell secured his weapons in their rightful places and proceeded to the Cafeteria to grab himself breakfast.

When he arrived at the Cafeteria, he was somewhat surprised to see some students had arrived early to eat. He spotted both Nora and Ren from team JNPR as he began to make his way over to them.

Nora saw him coming and waved him over along with a, "Over here!" to go along with it. Ren had looked at him with a neutral expression upon his face, and bowed his head slightly as a form of greetings.

Tyrell returned the gesture and said, "Good morning to you both." His voice had sounded tired and somewhat distant as he greeted them both. If either of them noticed, they chose not to show it as Nora quickly grabbed Tyrell's wrist with the same bone crushing strength that she possessed.

"Good morning professor~" The girl sang out as she began to lead him towards the kitchens. Ren followed them, but remained slightly behind them as Nora said, "Are you ready to taste the most epic food ever to be created!" She was barely able to contain her excitement it seemed as she was half walking and half jumping on their way to the kitchen.

"Yes Ms. Valkyrie. If you preach of them in such a fashion, then I'm sure I will enjoy them." Tyrell said in a more normal voice. It seemed the young girl's excitement was starting to infect the Sentinel.

"Oh you are going to _love_ them professor! Pancakes are not only the best food in existence, but the healthiest!" Nora stated as they entered the kitchen.

Ren then spoke as he said, "Nora, I don't believe that Pancakes are all that healthy for a person, especially when you add syrup."

Nora then quickly turned to Ren as she grabbed a plate and began to move over towards stacks upon stacks of what appeared to be light brown disks.

They all had a brown surface, but each also had a pale tan color that ran along the outside of each disk.

As Nora continued to argue with Ren about how Pancakes were healthy, she was also stacking a large stack of the brown disks without even looking.

Tyrell arched an eyebrow underneath his helmet as the stack continued to grow taller and taller. If it were put onto the floor, it would reach almost the same height as the girl who carried the plate.

Tyrell grabbed two of the disks, each almost as big as his plate, and grabbed a container of syrup that layed next to the stacks which were now shorter than they had been a minute ago.

Once they had sat down together Tyrell asked, "Where are your other two teammates?"

Ren answered, "Jaune is still sleeping, and Pyrrha is currently performing her daily jog." Tyrell nodded his thanks to Ren and looked over at Nora.

The sight both amused him and frightened him somewhat. The rather large stack that she had taken had already been reduced down to two thirds its original height. He also saw that she had poured a lot of syrup over the stack as empty containers sat across the table.

' _The people here are quite interesting.'_ Tyrell chuckled to himself as he removed his helmet and began to cut into his two Pancakes.

After they had all been cut up, Tyrell opened up the small container of the sappy liquid and poured it over the small cut pieces.

Nora stopped eating her own stack to look how her professor would react to the taste. She would break his legs if he said that they tasted anything short of amazing.

Ren too observed, but still with the neutral expression that he held on almost all the time.

Tyrell removed his helmet and picked up his fork. Once he had plunged it into one of the smaller pieces, he placed it in his mouth. The warmth that emitted from the piece sent chills down his spine. Now although the Pancake itself didn't have much flavor, it made up for it in its softness.

The syrup that he had added gave the piece the real flavor as it tasted sweet as it ran over his taste buds. He quickly found himself with three more of the small pieces in his mouth and continued to shove more into it.

Nora had a satisfied smile upon her face as she returned to her own stack, and Ren sighed softly as he would not have to restrain Nora from attacking the man if he had insulted her favorite treat.

Ren ate his own breakfast in silence as Nora and Tyrell had both finished their pancakes and went off to grab a second serving.

"Not a large stack Nora." Ren warned before the two left, with Nora sticking her tongue out at him in return as she turned around and walked with the new professor towards the kitchens.

Once they were gone, Ren immediately began to think of what he had observed. _'He sounded tired and stressed. Perhaps he did not receive much sleep last night? Possibly a bad dream kept him up?'_

When Tyrell had removed his helmet to eat his food, Ren observed his features when he wasn't looking. He had a few bags underneath his eyes and his face looked pale as if he saw a ghost.

What interested Rent he most was the haunted look in his eyes. He had put on a mask to probably to throw them off as to not worry them, but Ren saw through it and wondered what had scarred his new professor. He was fine the previous night when he last saw the professor.

' _So what could have caused him to look like this?'_ Ren thought cupping his chin with his hand in thought.

Ren wouldn't bring it up for now, but would eventually ask his professor if something was wrong if his condition worsened.

Both Nora and Tyrell returned from the kitchens. Nora with a stack only half the size of the original, but still a large one nonetheless. Tyrell had grabbed more Pancakes than he previously did, but nowhere near Nora's.

Ren sighed again, this time in slight annoyance, as his best friend only listened to him somewhat. Nora began to tell Tyrell about her recurring dream that she's been having for nearly over two months now.

Ren sighed again.

…

Ruby and her teammates were currently discussing their plans on how they would bring the White Fang down and Roman Torchwick to justice.

They were currently changing from their combat gear to something more undercover. Plus it was Ruby's idea that they should dress cool like detectives.

"I thought that class would never end." Blake said in a tired tone since they all had just come from Professor Ports class where he told them another one of his stories when he was younger.

"Well guys, today's the day we begin the investigation!" Ruby stated proudly as she jumped down from her top bunk that was above Weiss with her arms stretched above her head in excitement.

Weiss said in a sarcastic tone, "I'm glad to see that we're taking this so seriously." Ruby's smile didn't falter at the heiress's words as she brought her arms down to her sides.

"We have a plan at least. So I would say that's moderately serious… right?" Yang said unsure. Ruby agreed with her sister with a nod of her head as she turned to face all of them.

"So does everyone remember their roles?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby and I will head over to the CCT to check the Schnee records for any information on recent Dust robberies or any other crime acts committed by the White Fang." Putting on a smug smile onto her face Weiss continued, "Seeing that I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."

Blake then began to state her role by saying, "The White Fang have regular faction meetings to hand out orders and to recruit new members. One is scheduled for tonight and if I can infiltrate that meeting then I may be able to find out what they're planning."

Yang added her own role in as she said, "I got an old friend on the shadier side of Vale that pretty much knows everything that goes on in Vale. Getting info out of him shouldn't be too much of a problem." Yang finished as she crossed her arms.

Ruby was excited that they would finally be able to begin their secret mission that they've been planning for almost a week now. The young leader then said, "Great. We'll meet up near Yang to go over everything we've found. Alright let's do this!"

"Yeah!" A familiar male voice said seemingly out of nowhere.

Ruby turned towards the window and said casually, "Oh hey Sun." Ruby waved towards her new friend, but immediately stopped and looked out the window to see the monkey Faunus dangling off a flag pole by his tail outside.

Ruby, along with the rest of her team, looked at the boy in surprise as they all simultaneously took a step back at the sudden intrusion. "Sun?" Yang said in surprise. "How did you get up there?"

The Faunus boy smiled as he said, "It's easy. I do it all the time."

"You do what?!" Weiss asked thinking foul about his actions until he corrected her.

"I climb trees all the time." Sun said casually not knowing that the heiress thought he did it to spy on girls in their dorms.

Putting on a more serious face Sun said, "Is it time that we finally get back at that Torchwick guy?"

Blake stepped up and said, " _We_ will be investigating the situation… as a team." Blake said this while gesturing to the rest of team RWBY to make her point.

Sun's face had a frown of disappointment that they didn't want his help as Ruby said, "Sorry Sun, but we don't want to get friends involved."

His frown then turned to that of a smile as he said, "Pfft. That's dumb. You should always get friends involved. That's why I brought Neptune along." Sun said this while jerking his thumb behind him back towards the window.

All of team RWBY stuck their heads out the side of the window to see the blue haired teen standing on an outer edge of the building.

Neptune casually said, "Sup," keeping his cool despite being up four stories from the ground. He offered them a smile as they gave him odd looks.

"Uhh… how did you get up there?" Ruby asked in confusion. She could understand how Sun got up since he was a Faunus, but she couldn't understand how Neptune managed it.

"I have my ways." Neptune said with a smile, but lost it immediately when he said with a frightened look, "Seriously though, can I come in? We're like really high up right now?" He offered them a pleading grin as Ruby sighed and waved him in.

…

"I thought that class would never end." Tyrell muttered to himself. He liked Peter as a person, but the Sentinel wanted to strangle the man to shut him up for at least five seconds.

Peter talked for the entirety of the class and seemed to just tell more stories of him in his youth. They had been entertaining at first, but soon grew rather boring to the Sentinel as they sounded a little more exaggerated than need be.

He was currently walking through the halls of Beacon in search of the two students, Emerald and Mercury. He needed to find them to demand that they return his property back to him. If they did not comply through words, then he would use force if necessary.

He only hoped that they didn't find the Humanity sprite, although he knew that the chances of that happening we very low.

He was currently walking through the student dorms where his own room resided. As he passed by team RWBY's door, it had suddenly flung open as he passed by.

Turning around he saw Ruby had exited the room and was currently pulling Weiss by the back collar of her shirt heading in the same direction as the Sentinel. They both were dressed differently than normal, but Tyrell did not care as he had more pressing matters to worry about.

"Hello professor!" The young girl greeted cheerfully. Weiss cranked her head to the side to see the professor and gave him a polite wave.

Tyrell bowed his head in greetings to the two girls. So far his search for the two thieves had proved unsuccessful and Tyrell thought that it was time to ask for some help.

"Hello Ms. Rose. Do you have a minute?" Tyrell asked as he looked down at the short girl and her partner.

"Yup! What do you need professor?" Ruby replied cheerfully.

Tyrell nodded his head in thanks as he said, "Do you know two students by the names of Emerald and Mercury? I need to talk to them about a… missing report for Professor Port."

Ruby placed her index finger to her chin as she tried to recall anyone by those names. Suddenly she said, "Was one a girl with greenish colored hair and red eyes and the other had silver hair and was tall?"

Tyrell smiled underneath his helmet as he said happily, "Yes. That would be them. Do you know where they would be by any chance?"

Ruby then shook her head in the negative as she said that she only saw them in the afternoon during Ms. Goodwitch's class. Tyrell thanked them for their time and for helping him. Ruby walked off still dragging Weiss by the back of her collar.

The Schnee girl mouthed the words "Help me" to the Sentinel, but he ignored them as he needed to continue his search for the two. Even though he would see them later in the day, the sooner he found them the better.

…

Tyrell had skipped Lunch to continue his search for Emerald and Mercury. Still he was unable to find the two despite his extra time to search. After Lunch he had assisted Oobleck in his history class, and had even learned a little bit more on the Grimm.

Apparently, Mankind hadn't been the first species to dominate Remnant. The Grimm had occupied the planet long since before Mankind was born to this world.

Tyrell arrived at his final class for the day and knocked on the door twice. Ms. Goodwitch allowed him to enter and as he did he walked right up to the blond woman.

"Is there something that I can help you with Sir Tyrell?" Glynda asked with a neutral look on her face. It reminded the Sentinel of Ren's but to a lesser degree in a way.

Putting that thought aside Tyrell asked, "Ms. Rose has informed me that the two visiting students, Emerald and Mercury, attend this class. Is this correct?"

Glynda nodded her head to confirm that Ruby had told him the truth, but then she starred at the Sentinel as she asked, "Why do you wish to know Sir Tyrell?"

"I must speak to them over a matter of a missing paper for Professor Port. He had instructed me to… warn them about it so their grades wouldn't suffer." Tyrell lied, hoping that she didn't see through his lie.

"Normally that would be okay Sir Tyrell, but Professor Port does not have either of the students Emerald, or Mercury." Glynda said as she waited for his response. She saw through the lie as it was her job in the beginning of each year to keep records of every student in each teacher's class including her own.

Tyrell was silent as he knew that he had been caught in his lie. Glynda narrowed her eyes at him as she said in a stern voice, "Now what do you really want with Ms. Sustrai and Mr. Black?"

Students, along with the two he was looking for, would be arriving soon and so he decided to lean in closer to the combat professor as he whispered in a low voice, "Let's just say that they have stolen something from me that I wish returned."

Glynda noticed the shift in his voice that she had yet to hear from the Sentinel before now. Whatever was stolen from him was of great value to him, and she would need to inform Ozpin after she finished her class.

"Then why lie Sir Tyrell?" Glynda said back in her still stern voice to see if she could get him to say anything about what was stolen.

Tyrell chuckled lightly at the question as he leaned back from her and said, "Let's just say that the item stolen is something of personal value to me Ms. Goodwitch."

Glynda kept looking at the man before her with her eyes still narrowed. "If that is the case then I suggest that next time you tell the truth about your predicament instead of lying to me or anyone else."

Tyrell again chuckled as he said, "Oh don't worry Ms. Goodwitch. There will not be a 'next time.' I'll make sure of that."

Glynda was about to say if that was a threat when students began to pile into her classroom and had begun taking their seats.

She sent one last stern look at the Sentinel, and began to address the class before her.

Tyrell spotted both Emerald and Mercury sitting in a row just behind all of team RWBY, where he saw that both Ruby and Weiss had returned to their normal attire.

He narrowed his eyes at the two sitting behind them with a look of distaste. He could not see his pouch on either of them, but that wouldn't stop him from confronting them when class ended.

He was surprised to see that Emerald had lost the no doubt fake smile that she wore when talking to others she didn't know. It was replaced with a face full of disbelief and worry instead.

Mercury fared no better either than his partner. Instead of seeing the normal bored look that he presented, it was replaced with one of dread and fear.

Seeing their faces had made Tyrell jump to the conclusion that they had seen the sprite and possibly his Lord even.

He observed them almost all class, only to look away to observe the sparring matches between students.

Jaune was now paired up to spar against a young man with a mostly shaved head, save for the strange line of hair that grew out straight down from the front of his head to the back. It looked slightly unkempt and it was a light shade of green.

As Jaune had a sword and shield like an ordinary knight would, this other boy carried two daggers with one in each hand. Both were up and pointed at the young knight.

When Ms. Goodwitch started the match, both rushed each other at the same time. The boy with the two daggers was much more agile than Jaune was and, just before they met, the agile boy sidestepped to Jaune's right. This caused the young knight to swing and miss his attack and left him vulnerable for attack.

The agile combatant took advantage of this as he went for what Tyrell thought would be a backstab, but instead lashed out with his daggers to attack Jaune with multiple swipes.

Tyrell was impressed to see that Jaune managed to turn around in time to block both daggers with his shield and a sharp sound of metal against metal came to the Sentinel's ears.

As the fight continued, Jaune seemed to be taking more damage than his opponent had. With Jaune's Aura gauge in the yellow while his opponent's was still green, but was on the edge of the yellow zone.

Jaune only managed to land two good swings on his opponent that led to the loss in Aura, but that was when his opponent had swung multiple times and needed a quick moment to catch his breath. Even then Jaune had nearly missed.

' _He can hit hard, but is too slow with his attacks. If he would expand his endurance and stamina then he would be faster.'_ Tyrell thought as he would tell his fellow knight this advice next time they sat down to eat.

Eventually, Jaune had lost the match in the end. With his Aura in the red zone while the boy with dual daggers had only lost less than half his Aura as it was in the yellow zone.

Tyrell clapped the boy on the shoulder and congratulated him on a good fight even though he had lost. Tyrell said, "Don't let this loss discourage you Jaune. Rather let it fuel you to do better for your next match. You did fine that match."

Jaune gave him a warm smile for the kind words and walked back towards the steps so he could sit with his team. Who also seemed to congratulate him for how well he did, especially Pyrrha who praised him the most.

Since the fight ended, Tyrell took a glance back towards both Emerald and Mercury. This time however, they caught his attention. They both were now looking at him with crooked smiles and seemed to lose the dreadful looks they held earlier.

Mercury leaned closer to Emerald and whispered something to her that caused her smile to grow larger. Then Emerald said something back to her partner that caused him to laugh. All the time they were talking they had never stopped looking at the Sentinel.

Tyrell was about to look away when Emerald reached down for something behind the desk that he couldn't see. When she brought up his pouch he took in a sharp air of breath.

She strapped it around her waist like he had done previously and took one last look at him before focusing her attention back to her partner.

The two ignored him the rest of the class and once the bell had rung, Tyrell made his way outside the classroom to cut the two off.

He rested himself against the wall and waited until he saw the two exiting Ms. Goodwitch's classroom. Both in a conversation that didn't involve his pouch or the sprite.

"You two. Stop." Tyrell ordered as they stood in place and turned around to meet his gaze. Tyrell looked at the pouch on the younger girl's waist and said, "I believe that you have something of mine Ms. Sustrai." His tone was mainly calm, but still held an air of authority to it.

"I'm sorry professor, but I'm afraid that I don't know what you're talking about." Emerald said with a smile on her face in the most innocent voice she could muster. Mercury snickered at the voice as he stayed silent.

"I know that you have stolen my pouch Ms. Sustrai. I ask you to kindly return my possessions to me." Tyrell said in the same calm voice, but he was beginning to grow tired of her act.

"Professor, I'm serious. I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I haven't stolen anything from you." As she said it she couldn't help it as the smile on her face grew wider.

"I see my pouch hanging off your waist as we speak Ms. Sustrai. If you do not return it to me now I will have to punish the two of you." Tyrell said.

Suddenly Mercury spoke up with his arms raised halfway up as if he were surrendering. "Whoa professor! Don't drag me into the same circle as her. I'm no thief." He said it in a failed attempt to sound innocent to the Sentinel.

Tyrell slightly in annoyance as he said, "Enough of these games. They don't amuse me. I know that the two of you are both responsible for the crime you committed. Now give me my pouch _now_." Tyrell was sick of them fairing innocent and wanted his pouch back.

Emerald's smile disappeared as she dropped the act and said, "Fine. You can have your stupid sack back. Here." Emerald undid the pouch and removed it from her waist and threw it towards Tyrell. He caught it and immediately began to look through it to make sure everything was there.

A few more of the Prism stones were missing and all three of the Repair Powders were still there. Some of the food rations he had brought were gone, but none of these mattered to him as much as the sprite that normally stayed at the bottom of the pouch was.

It was nowhere to be seen.

He looked up at the two students who had gotten their crooked smiles again. Tyrell grabbed each of them by the wrists and led them to an empty classroom.

Again it was mainly the same as the rest at Beacon, but Tyrell ignored it as he let go of the two thieves' wrists to talk to them.

Tyrell said in a low, angered tone, "Where is it?!" Both Emerald and Mercury massaged their wrists that he had grabbed when he forced them into the classroom.

"Somewhere safe." Mercury said with a smug grin as it only angered the Sentinel.

"If you do not give it back to me I swear by the old lords I will-" Tyrell grew silent as Emerald rushed up to him and held one of her weapons to his throat.

The weapon resembled that of a sickle of sorts, but with its own design. It wasn't as curved as most sickles were which gave it a longer reach.

Tyrell already had begun to draw his sword when she had begun to move, but she beat him so he was helpless for now.

"Or you'll what?" Mercury said as he brought up his right leg up high enough to be able to kick Tyrell in the chest if he wanted to. Some sort of ankle bracelet was clad around his ankle with the same for his opposite ankle.

"Now, let's just all calm down. Your sprite is safe back with our leader, and she wants to talk to you." Emerald said as she lowered her blade slightly to show him that she was willing to be peaceful. Mercury kept his leg up and narrowed his eyes at Tyrell.

The Sentinel let go of the sword's hilt and allowed it to fall back into its sheath with a dull thud. Then both Emerald and Mercury each lowered their weapons after Tyrell had and the Sentinel then asked, "How did you know that it was called a sprite?"

"Your boss called." Mercury said as his dreadful expression returned to his face, but it disappeared as soon as it arrived as he fixed Tyrell with a hard stare.

Tyrell was afraid that this might had occurred, and would need to speak to their leader if he was to retrieve the sprite.

Taking a long sigh of both relief and frustration Tyrell said, "I will talk to your leader. Lead the way." Emerald and Mercury smiled at one another as all three exited the classroom and headed for Cinder.

…

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Sir Tyrell." Cinder said in a calm manner to the Sentinel.

"The same for you Ms. Fall." Tyrell greeted and bowed his head to her. He was anxious, not only for what all three had learned about him and his world, but the Sentinel felt uneasy around this woman. She held vast power, which he could just feel, and would prove a dangerous enemy to anyone.

"Regarding my Lord's call, what have you learned Ms. Fall?" Tyrell just went straight to the point. He needed to know how much these people knew and if he would need to remove them to keep their secret.

"Yes. Abell was an interesting character. He told me things that I at first thought impossible and didn't believe, and I even thought that the sprite was just a new form of Dust or his Semblance. That was when he proved me wrong." Cinder said with a small smile.

Tyrell then said, "Ms. Fall, could you please address him with his title, The Ashen Lord, rather than his name. Forgive my rudeness, but you are not of our kingdom and thus do not deserve to call him by his real name." Cinder's eyes glowed at the Sentinel for a brief moment, but soon they returned to normal as she took a breath to calm herself.

"My apologies, but I like to refer to my clients however I please. Do please forgive me for my _rudeness_." Cinder said as she lowered her voice slightly and starred at the Sentinel.

"Clients, Ms. Fall?" Tyrell asked confused, but a pit of dread formed in his stomach at the word.

"Yes, Abell and I have come to an agreement of sorts regarding his movement to Remnant. I promise to help him and his kingdom in the first few months of their arrival, and in return he lends me his armies to help me execute my own plans." Cinder said as she narrowed her eyes to the knight before her.

"I see. Then we are allies as of now." Tyrell said in agreement. The more allies they had on Remnant the better.

"I will require you to do a few things for me as well." Cinder added in and it brought the Sentinel out of his thought.

"I was not a part of your agreement Ms. Fall. So what allows you to think you will order me around?" Tyrell asked. The pit in his stomach disappeared as he would not allow this woman to order him. He owed loyalty to his Lord and his Lord alone.

"Oh you will though. I'm sure that you wouldn't want this secret to reach the ears of the Headmaster would you?" Cinder said as she smiled that she held power over him.

Tyrell grew silent after she had said that. He couldn't risk his position at Beacon for he needed to remain undercover until his Lord arrived. Plus he needed to continue his research on not only the unoccupied continent, but Remnant as a whole as well if he wished to continue to aid his Lord while they remained back in Lordran.

With a slight growl in his voice Tyrell said, "Fine. I will aid you only in small tasks. I have a job to perform at Beacon, and will not allow myself to be your slave."

Cinder's smile turned into a small frown as she said, "For now yes, but if you wish to still help your kingdom then I suggest listening to me and complete my tasks I assign you. Understand?"

"Yes." Tyrell said begrudgingly and then said, "I will be taking back my Lord's sprite now Ms. Fall." Tyrell would not leave without it.

Surprisingly she complied with his demand and held out her hand. What happened next surprised Tyrell as the Humanity sprite appeared out of thin air in the base of her open palm.

"Here you are Sentinel. Now leave. I have matters to discuss with my two subordinates." Cinder ordered as Tyrell took the sprite in his hand and carefully place it into his pouch like it was a precious gem.

Tyrell then nodded and left the room. Emerald quickly said, "Catch you later… partner." She said the last word in a mocking way as Mercury chuckled to himself and Tyrell closed the door behind him.

He had much to discuss with his Lord, but that would have to wait until later for Dinner would be served in a half hour.

Tyrell then began to walk back towards his room.

* * *

 **Okay another one done. I really liked this chapter better than the last one had turned out before the rewrite.**

 **So the dream/nightmare will have a big role in the next couple of chapters. For the entities I wanted to make a more lethal version of the Humanity enemy that you fight in the Abyss in the Artorias DLC. Now that wasn't the last that we'll see of that dream. So don't think that those nightmares are going away just yet :)**

 **I'm sorry that I used the same dialogue from the show again, but that was just a bump in the road that I wanted to get over with. Also, I'm pretty sure that episode 3 of Volume 2 occurs during the weekend, but I didn't want to jump from Monday to the weekend. Especially how the last chapter ended. So expect to see a few things from the show out of place.**

 **Thank you all again for your support and I hope that I am providing a story that you all enjoy. I'll talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everyone! How has your day been going? Good I hope.**

 **I apologize for the delay of this chapter, but school has started up again and I'm not only getting used to my own schedule, but I'm also getting homework from 90% of my classes. So I'm still unsure how this will affect story updates, but I've been writing when I could.**

 **Alright onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Fires Far: Part II**_

Tyrell had returned to his room after he had eaten at the Cafeteria. He was surprised to only see team JNPR at the table as team RWBY was nowhere in sight, but he did not think on it long as he ate quickly to return to his room.

The young students gave him odd looks as he didn't say a word to them, but he ignored them as he finished his meal and left in a hurry.

Once he had settled down and locked the door, Tyrell pulled out the Humanity sprite that was given to him. He starred down hard at the sprite, trying to will it to make a connection to his Lord, but to no success.

Tyrell then decided to try and talk to the sprite to make the call. "My Lord, I call thee to speak of recent matters that have transpired…" Nothing. It refused to listen to the Sentinel and he was starting to become annoyed, but would continue to try to connect to his Lord no matter how long it took.

Sighing, Tyrell spent the next two hours trying to get the sprite to work, but still no closer to making it work.

He was growing very tired of receiving no response from the small sprite, and finally decided to try a technique that he preferred not to do.

Kneeling down on his knee and holding the sprite out, as if he were sacrificing it to a Bonfire, Tyrell closed his eyes and reached out with his own soul towards the small sprite.

With his eyes shut, Tyrell focused only on the burning Humanity that sat in his palm. He wasn't surprised to see the sprite appear despite his physical eyes being closed. Then he noticed a white sphere appear near the sprite.

It was his soul.

It was barely bigger than a clenched fist and glowed pure white. It radiated with energy and swayed slightly from side to side.

It was a technique used by a few Undead who wished to reach out to one another to speak, rather than leaving a random message on the ground. Even after the Curse was lifted, it was still possible to learn and use without being cursed.

Tyrell remembered a time when Alonne was teaching him the basics of the technique.

…

" _Now relax your body, ease your mind, and take deep, calm breaths." Alonne said in a calm voice to an eighteen year old Tyrell._

 _Closing his eyes Tyrell breathed inwards as Abell had instructed, and removed all thoughts that didn't have to do with the exercise._

" _Good. Now focus on your soul until it appears in front of your mind's eye." Alonne said as he did the same._

 _Tyrell did what he was told as he concentrated on the thing that made up all life, including his._

 _At first, nothing appeared and Tyrell only saw darkness. Then from the black came a small little light that lit up and became a beacon in the dark._

 _Focusing on the light, Tyrell willed it closer to him. It grew and grew larger as time went on, and once it was in front of him he was a little disappointed._

 _It looked just as large as his palm, and it flickered slightly as if it were a candle in a light wind._

" _Have you found it Tyrell?" Alonne asked in a calm whisper without losing sight of his own soul in his mind's eye._

" _Yes, but I…" Tyrell began but trailed off as he was a little embarrassed to continue._

" _But you what?" Alonne asked with no real interest in his voice, but he did not sound bored either, just neutral._

" _I… thought it would be bigger." Tyrell said as he waited for his fellow Knight of Omen to respond. He then heard a soft wheezing sound._

 _Tyrell dared to crack open his eye to see what the noise was, but immediately shut it as Alonne said, "Do not open your eyes Tyrell, or you will lose sight of your soul and will have to start all over."_

" _Yes Alonne." Tyrell then turned his attention back to his soul. It had begun to fade away, but when he turned his focus back to the small white ball, it returned to its original state._

 _Tyrell couldn't see it, but Alonne smiled to himself as they continued their lesson for the day._

…

Tyrell smiled at the memory for a brief moment, but then put all of his focus towards the task at hand.

The Sentinel began to move both the sprite and his soul closer to one another until they touched.

He felt a cold chill run throughout his entire body when they made contact, but brushed it off as he then thought, _'I call out to the Ashen Lord and his soul. Allow me speech with my Lord.'_

Tyrell then felt the sprite in his physical hand begin to move. Dismissing his soul and the sprite from his mind's eye, he opened his physical ones to see that the sprite had finished growing and the phantom of Abell began to appear.

When it fully manifested Abell spoke, "Tyrell, what reason do you have to call me?" His tone was mainly calm, but Tyrell had heard the hint of confusion as well.

"Greetings, my Lord, I wish to speak to you of recent matters that have transpired." Tyrell said in a somewhat annoyed voice and then continued, "Regarding Ms. Fall…"

Abell seemed unaffected that Tyrell knew that he had made contact with Ms. Fall, but continued by saying, "I take it that you have spoken to Ms. Fall?"

"Yes, my Lord, but I must ask you of something. I understand how important it is to have allies, but before you have even arrived? How can you be sure that we can trust this woman?" Tyrell said.

"I see where your concerns may lie Tyrell, but if we are to thrive on this new world, then we must have allies to aid us in our time of need. We will need food, water, and shelter. Ms. Fall has promised to aid us in this manner in exchange for the help of my army." Abell finished.

Tyrell shook his head as he said, "But my Lord, how can you be sure to trust this woman's word? She could backstab us at any point in time!"

"The Witch will not betray us if she wishes to accomplish her own goals." Abell said with slight malice.

Tyrell fell silent as he was confused at what his Lord called Ms. Fall. "The Witch, my Lord?" Tyrell asked confused.

Abell nodded his head. "I was the chosen Undead, Tyrell. I was different than you and your fellow Undead brothers and sister. After I had awakened my soul's power, I was able to sense the souls of those around me." Abell said.

Tyrell was silent to allow him to continue as Abell proceeded to say, "It also has allowed me to sense the power of the souls around me. When my anger had subsided after I had found out that she had gained possession of the sprite, I began to sense both her soul and the other two in the room."

"What did you sense my Lord?" Tyrell asked in interest.

"I was unable to get a clear sense of her soul through the sprite, but what I did sense from that soul was powerful. It reminded me of the power that had layed dormant in the old Bed of Chaos." Abell finished.

Tyrell turned pale at the mention of one of the old lords. The Witch of Izalith, once one of the mighty lords that appeared at the beginning of the Age of Fire, tried to recreate the First Flame, but failed. Instead of creating a new flame of life, she had created a flame of chaos.

Demons were born from the chaos flames and destroyed the City of Izalith and her people, but had been kept underground by Gwyn's armies to deny them passage to the surface where they would wreak destruction.

The Witch of Izalith became known as the Mother of Demons and her body became that of the Bed of Chaos.

"If what you sensed if true, my Lord, then she could prove a very dangerous enemy." Tyrell said in worry.

"Or a powerful ally Tyrell. If it came to where the Witch would betray us, then I will take care of her personally." Abell said in a slightly dark tone.

Tyrell nodded his head. His Lord had vanquished the four old lords and defeated Gwyn, and Tyrell had full faith in his Lord's abilities to defeat Ms. Fall if the need arose.

"I understand, my Lord. I have been researching the world of Remnant and have found a location where you will be able to move the kingdom on Remnant. It will be out of the way of the other kingdoms, and will allow us to remain hidden." Tyrell said in a confident manner.

"…Go on." Abell said in a neutral tone.

Tyrell then continued, "It has no official name, but some sources have called the continent 'Hedrikon: The Grimm lands.'"

Abell was silent for a few moments before asking, "Would there not be hundreds, if not thousands of the Grimm creatures, waiting for us when we arrive?"

"Yes, my Lord." Tyrell said evenly as he waited for Abell to continue.

"Good. It will give the knights some practice and to stretch their legs after such a long time of no combat. Well done Tyrell, this pleases me greatly and I will have the kingdom move shortly." Abell said chuckling. Tyrell was somewhat caught off guard by his response, but was thankful that his Lord was happy with his work.

Tyrell then thought of the nightmare that he had the previous night, and wished to ask his Lord about it.

"My Lord, may I tell you of something?" Tyrell began.

"If you wish Tyrell." Abell said.

"The previous night, I had a… nightmare of sorts." Tyrell said with some hesitancy. Abell remained silent and starred at the Sentinel silence. "I had woken up in what I believed to be the… Abyss."

Abell had still remained silent, but he then crossed his arms across his chest and nodded for Tyrell to continue.

"There was nothing at first, just a dead silence in the darkness. Then I began to hear long, drawn out moans that soon became louder and threatened to make me deaf." Tyrell then continued to tell Abell of his nightmare.

How a strange white mist surrounded the ground and Humanity sprites rose from it. He then went on to tell him of how the sprites created what Tyrell named as an "entity."

How Tyrell fought off dozens of them as they tried to suck the life out of him, and how his armor and weapon had rusted and cracked. Finally, Tyrell told him of the armored entity that had defeated him, but had let him live (dream wise) and how he then woke up.

Abell had remained silent throughout the entire explanation and did not interrupt once. Then Tyrell asked, "My Lord, did you have anything to do with that nightmare?"

After a long pause and taking a long sigh Abell unfolded his arms and said, "I do not Tyrell. If this nightmare persists, just ignore it. After all, it is not real and cannot harm you."

Tyrell was not confident in that answer, but nodded his head in agreement to his Lord's advice. "As you say, my Lord. Also, I had almost forgot to ask, when will you be arriving on Remnant my Lord?"

"What day is it currently there?" Abell asked. Tyrell took out his Scroll and opened it to see that the time was a quarter past ten. He was surprised that they had been talking for an hour and a half.

When Tyrell told Abell that it was Wednesday, Abell then said, "I should be arriving onto Remnant in the coming week if everything runs smoothly Tyrell. Preparations are still underway, but it won't be too long I assure you."

"That is good news to hear my Lord. What will you do for shelter until Ms. Fall delivers on her end of the arrangement?" Tyrell asked.

"Do not worry yourself on that subject Tyrell for I have already planned ahead for that problem. Once we have arrived, camps will be set up for the knights to rest." Abell finished. Tyrell nodded that he understood and Abell cut the connection as the sprite returned to its normal size.

Tyrell was beginning to get ready for bed when he heard footfalls pass by his doorway.

Opening the door slightly, Tyrell saw that it was team RWBY walking back towards their dorm room.

They looked as if they had just come back from a fight with a Taurus demon. Cuts and bruises covered their faces while there were a few tares here and there on their clothes.

They looked very tired and Tyrell decided to let them off this time since he too was tired after the day's events. He would talk to them in the morning on why they were out past curfew.

Closing his door, Tyrell finished removing his armor and climbed into his bed, hoping to have peaceful dreams this night.

Unfortunalty he would not.

 _After what felt like only a minute, Tyrell had woken up lying on his stomach in the pit of the Abyss again, but this time it was different somewhat._

 _The white mist from the previous nightmare was already covering the "floor" of the Abyss, but that wasn't what caught his attention._

 _Looking up, Tyrell saw what appeared to be actual cracks in the area above him. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that each crack had dark orange and black flames emitting from them._

 _There were not many of them, and they appeared to be small cracks, but what were they and what did they mean?_

 _While he was distracted by the appearance of the cracks, Tyrell had failed to notice that the entities were beginning to spawn and a few were already coming at him with a hand reaching out._

 _Drawing his Silver Knight sword, Tyrell charged to meet them head on. The first one that he met quickly found its chest imbedded with the silver sword. Drawing it out quickly, Tyrell continued his sprint towards the next one._

 _Swinging his sword diagonally downwards had cut the unfortunate entity in two, but he paid it no mind as he quickly ducked under an attempt to grab him by another._

 _This time Tyrell brought his sword upwards and impaled the entity's head that resulted in a low moan from it._

 _He quickly removed his sword and kicked the things body away as suddenly a small explosion erupted from the now dead enemy._

 _He wasn't expecting this and barely had time to roll out of the way of the blast radius that only caused him minor damage._

 _Rising up, Tyrell saw that twenty more had spawned and a few of them were acting strangely. Some of the entity's white orbs were glowing very bright and caused the body it was in to have white flames appear on its back._

 _Tyrell saw that one of them had fallen to its knees suddenly and the white flames began to engulf the creature. Another low moan was heard from it before it then exploded just as the previous had._

 _Tyrell's eyes widened at the sight, and as soon as the one that fell to its knees exploded, the ones that also had white flames upon their backs began to run at the Sentinel._

 _They had both their hands reaching towards Tyrell, and they were not slow as they were already halfway to his position._

' _If they get a hold of me then I'm done for.' Tyrell thought as he proceeded with the next best course of action. He ran._

 _He dared not to look back as he rushed passed more of the freshly spawned entities as the ones rigged to explode pursued him._

 _He heard multiple low moans as the numbers behind him grew larger, and soon a mob was after him. Soon a few of the moans were silenced as he heard a few explosions go off in the middle of the crowd._

 _The white mist was endless and only more entities spawned as he ran by. Where was he to go? Should he face them and die to end the nightmare? Or should he continue to run to see if the explosions can clear out the rest?_

 _Tyrell sparred a quick glance backwards to see how many there were. He regretted it as he saw nearly more than one hundred of the entities all with white flames upon their backs as they all ran after him._

 _The chorus of moans only grew louder as more and more of the flamed entities exploded. Tyrell could not keep this up forever for he was growing light headed due to most of his blood being pumped into his legs._

 _The weight of his armor and weapon was not helping and slowed him down even further as the flamed entities grew even closer._

 _One managed to get close enough to reach out and grab the back of his small brown cape that hung from the back of his armor. The fabric tore off easily and caused the entity to lose its balance and fall onto the ground._

 _It was soon trampled on by its comrades and Tyrell heard the explosion go off a moment later and he hoped that it had taken a few more of them along with it._

 _Looking ahead, Tyrell saw a white light appear at the end of the white mist. It was as big as a doorway and shined even brighter than the white flames on the entity's backs._

' _That must be the way out! It must be!' Tyrell thought excitedly as he drew closer to the light with the mob of combusting entities not far behind._

 _As he drew closer, Tyrell saw a dark shadow emerge from the white light. Tyrell gasped slightly as he saw that it was the armored entity from the previous nightmare._

 _It held its dark Black Knight Greataxe in one hand and allowed it to rest upon its shoulder as it stepped through the white light and stood between Tyrell and salvation._

 _Tyrell was faced with two choices presented by his current situation. He could either try to run past the armored entity and into the light, or try to kill it fast enough before the horde reached him._

 _Not liking either, Tyrell chose to try and run past the armored entity that stood on guard. This was a poor decision as it saw this coming and swung its Greataxe so that it would imbed itself in the Sentinel's chest._

 _Tyrell was tired from the long run, but managed to use his momentum to roll underneath the Greataxe and begun to run towards the light as soon as he was up onto his feet._

 _Unfortunalty, the armored entity reached out with its free hand and grabbed Tyrell by the collar of his armor that shielded the back of his neck. It yanked back hard and pulled Tyrell down to the ground in front of it before stomping its foot down onto his chest._

 _What little air that was left in his lungs was forced out as the foot of the powerful entity crashed down onto his burning lungs._

 _The horde was almost upon them, but then the armored entity held out its hand to halt them._

 _Surprisingly they obeyed and ceased their mad dash towards the downed knight, but soon after they all exploded in union with multiple moans ringing in the air. The combined numbers of the explosions and moans caused Tyrell's ears to start ringing._

 _Tyrell grasped the hilt of his sword to try and attack his enemy, but it swiftly kicked him in the head which disoriented him further._

 _The entity then removed Tyrell's sword by bringing its Greataxe down onto his right arm. It was as if there was no armor there at all as the dark weapon cut right through it like butter._

" _AAaaahhhhh!" Tyrell screamed as blood began to pour from the wound._

 _It severed the limb halfway up and Tyrell screamed in agony as he felt the pain despite it only being a dream._

 _It then kneeled down (with its foot still planted on Tyrell's chest) and begun to say something that Tyrell could not make out clearly due to his still ringing ears. It sounded very far away, as if someone was trying to speak to him from a mile away._

" _Wh-What are you saying?" Tyrell hissed painfully as the entity then reached out and squeezed his right stump of an arm._

" _Ahh! I d-do not k-know what you speak!" Tyrell then shouted at the entity's face. It ceased trying to talk and stood back up. It then pointed upwards at the cracks that had appeared above._

 _Tyrell looked and saw that another crack had appeared in the sky above him. This one the same size as the others._

 _He then looked back at the entity about to ask it something when it swung its Greataxe downwards right onto Tyrell's head._

Tyrell opened his eyes to find the ceiling of his room. Sunlight came through the slight crack in the curtains and he knew that the nightmare had ended.

Tyrell sat up and immediately flexed his right hand. Thankfully he felt all five fingers and was glad to know that he still kept his limb.

"Nightmare or not, that pain had felt all too real." Tyrell whispered to himself as he realized that he also had been sweating as his shirt felt damp. After sitting up for a few minutes to breathe and calm himself, Tyrell got out of bed and walked over towards his bathroom.

When he looked at himself in the mirror, he noticed how tired he was. Multiple bags hung from underneath his eyes, his skin was paler than normal, and his eyes were bloodshot and red.

"I must get these nightmares under control." Tyrell said quietly to himself as he proceeded to get ready for the day.

As he was taking his morning shower a stray thought passed through his mind.

' _What was the entity trying to say to me? And those cracks in the Abyss… what was the meaning behind them and why did it point up to them?'_ Tyrell continued to think of what this new nightmare meant as he let the hot water rain down over his body.

After coming up with nothing, he shut off the water and dried himself off. He proceeded to get dressed in his, now damp, leather clothing and equipped his armor and weapons.

He felt so tired from now two nights without peaceful sleep, but he knew that he would have to continue working if he was going to retain his cover.

Arriving at the Cafeteria and grabbing some food, Tyrell sat down in his usual spot and was happy that neither team were there for the moment so he could eat in peace.

That peace was short lived as Nora soon busted the doors open to the Cafeteria and began to walk in with the rest of JNPR behind her.

Soon after, team RWBY followed them through the double doors and they all were headed towards the kitchens.

"Hay Professor!" Nora shouted out as she passed by and gave Tyrell a friendly wave. Tyrell cringed slightly at the how loud the girl's voice was.

"May the old lords have mercy on this man." Tyrell mumbled quietly as he returned the friendly gesture halfheartedly.

Both teams returned soon enough and were already engaging in conversation with one another. Tyrell looked up and noticed that most of team RWBY looked well rested despite how tired they had looked last night, but Blake looked even worse than before.

Dark bags, much like his own, hung underneath her eyes while she was struggling to keep her head up and pay attention to the book she was reading.

While he was thinking about it Tyrell spoke up in a tired voice, "So how did everyone sleep last night?"

It was an odd question and out of the blue, but the Sentinel wanted to see if the girls would come out and tell the truth.

"Umm… good I guess?" Jaune said confused as he looked at his new professor.

"We all slept well professor, thank you for asking." Pyrrha said in a polite manner, but she too sounded slightly confused. Ren gave him a small smile to show that he slept well while Nora was off in her own little world.

"And you girls?" Tyrell said looking over at the ones he was targeting. Ruby got a nervous look on her face as well as Yang, but Weiss had done the same thing Pyrrha had done and said calmly that they all had slept fine.

"That is good to hear. I was just curious when I heard multiple footsteps pass by my door last night. When I opened to see who it was I saw you four walking back to your dorm room and looked as if you were in a fight. Why was that?" Tyrell said trying to keep the sleepiness out of his voice.

They knew that they had been caught, but Tyrell was waiting for why they were out. The calm mask that Weiss put up now had a crack in it as she smiled nervously and closed her eyes before saying, "You must have mistaken us for someone else professor, because we were in our room _before_ curfew."

Blake had narrowed her eyes towards him as she seemed to grow wonder why he was up late as well, but Tyrell would not let her question him as he continued to press on for the truth.

Before the girl could say anything Tyrell spoke, "I would appreciate it if you would not lie to me Ms. Schnee. While I was up last night, I had heard you and your team walking through the hallway last night, and when I opened my door I saw all four of you walking down the hall. So please, tell me what you girls were doing out past your curfew?"

Both Ruby and Yang's faces grew more nervous as they didn't want to tell a teacher that they were out fighting the White Fang instead of sleeping in their beds.

Weiss was silent as she looked towards the two siblings for an excuse, but they had none.

With a sigh Blake placed her book down onto the table and said in her own tired voice, "We were in the library last night trying to get some of our research done for a project assigned by Professor Oobleck. We didn't notice the time until it was past ten and decided to head back. We're sorry that we were up past curfew and it won't happen again professor."

Tyrell looked at the usually quite girl and nodded, accepting the answer. "Thank you Blake. Now was it so hard to tell the truth girls?" He then began to laugh lightly as Yang sighed in relief while Ruby had a small nervous grin on her face.

"Well, I will see you all in class later; enjoy the rest of your breakfast." Tyrell said as he departed from the two teams and left the Cafeteria without another word.

After he had left Ruby said, "That was close." Her sister nodded her head in agreement while her partner scoffed.

"He just assumed that we were out and about on campus past curfew. Ruby he had no idea about what happened last night." Weiss said as she finished her meal and looked at the red cloaked leader/partner.

"You think so Weiss?" Ruby asked unsure. The heiress nodded in agreement as Yang draped her arm around Blake.

"He might have caught on if it wasn't for Blakey here giving him that excuse." The brawler said with a smile on her face. Blake shrugged her partner's arm off and stood up to leave.

"We need to be more careful, especially around the teachers. I'm going to the library to get in some more research before classes start. I'll catch you guys in Goodwitch's soon." With that Blake left the Cafeteria through the same entrance that Tyrell took not but a minute before.

The rest of her team watched her leave before Jaune spoke up. "So… what did you guys do last night anyways?"

"Nope." Was Ruby's response as she, along with Weiss and Yang, left the Cafeteria as well. Jaune shrugged at the response and continued eating breakfast with his team.

…

Tyrell found himself standing next to Ms. Goodwitch as Pyrrha stepped onto the stage to take on not only Mr. Winchester, but his entire team as well.

"Are you sure of this Ms. Goodwitch? A four on one duel seems hardly fair at all." Tyrell addressed his concern to Glynda, worried for the young girl.

"Absolutely Sir Tyrell. Ms. Nikos is an experienced tournament fighter and she possesses skills that could almost match those of a fully trained Hunter." Glynda answered in her usual stern voice.

Tyrell still felt uneasy about the match up for in Lordran it was considered dishonorable to fight someone when you had the numbers on your side. However, if the lone fighter could defeat his/her opponents by themselves then they were considered strong warriors.

"If you are to worry about anyone, then I suggest that you place your concerns towards team CRDL instead." Glynda mentioned while she continued to type things down onto her Scroll.

Tyrell raised a brow at that and then asked, "I have no doubt in Ms. Nikos skills when it comes to combat, but team CRDL seems like a team that holds power."

Glynda finished jotting down a few more things before saying, "Believe me when I tell you that Ms. Nikos is the one that holds the power. If I didn't have all of team CRDL fight her then it would be unfair, to them."

The Sentinel folded his arms at that last sentence, wondering how the match would unfold.

After Tyrell grew silent, Glynda walked away and stood in front of the stage where a spotlight shined down on her like she was about to perform at a concert.

Clearing her throat Glynda said, "The match between Ms. Nikos and team CRDL is about to begin. Are both combatants ready?"

Pyrrha nodded with a serious look on her face and determination in her eyes. Tyrell looked over towards team CRDL as they too nodded in confirmation. He noticed that the boy with a strange hairstyle and the short, slightly portly boy both shared a look of nervousness whereas Mr. Winchester too had a look of determination in his features.

The larger boy's eye had completely healed from when Tyrell hit it with the pointed end of his shield, and Tyrell was thankful that her didn't cause any permanent damage to the boy.

"Then let the match begin." Glynda stated as she backed away and off the stage back towards the Sentinel. The same buzzer that signaled Tyrell and Mr. Winchester's match sounded off and the two forces charged one another.

Sky and Russel were the first two to make it to the Spartan, both with their weapons held in front of them. Sky carried his halberd positioned to thrust it towards the girl like a lance and Russel held a dagger in each hand with the bladed ends sticking to the sides.

Pyrrha positioned herself in her normal combat stance, with her shield, Akouo, held up defensively and Milo in its short sword form held pointing towards her front.

Sky attacked first by swinging his weapon to her right side to try and get around her defense, but the champion saw it coming and moved her shield to deflect the blow with ease.

Russel took the opening and tried to attack her when she was exposed, but this too failed as Pyrrha quickly spun around and kicked the boy's legs out from under him, knocking him off balance and onto the floor.

She then turned her attention back towards Sky as he tried to swing his halberd overhead. Pyrrha brought up Milo and deflected the blow and in turn unleashed her own assault of blows.

Tyrell was amazed at how fast Pyrrha attacked and how quickly Sky deflected each blow, but she wore him down soon enough as she spun around and transformed Milo into its rifle form and shot Sky in the abdomen.

This broke his guard and Pyrrha, already have switched to the short sword form again, slashed across his chest with enough force to send him flying away a few feet.

Cardin saw Sky fly past him and a look of slight anger crossed over his face as he then charged the girl with his mace raised.

Pyrrha showed no emotion in her face as she suddenly sped up and met the boy head on. This caught him off guard as she unleashed a flurry of slashes across his armor and face.

After taking a few of the hits, Cardin managed to block the rest and found an opening to attack. Pyrrha was already launching her next attack on the boy and Tyrell thought that she would be hit.

However she managed to stop herself and rolled out of the way as Cardin shattered the ground from where she once stood with the same explosion that nearly caved in Tyrell's chest a few days before.

As she readjusted herself, Cardin pushed his attack by swinging his mace around to give it momentum but she pulled her shield up just in time to deflect the blow.

It was a powerful attack for it pushed Pyrrha a good couple of yards into Sky as he prepared to attack her. He prepared his attack by spinning it around and was about to succeed in hitting her when she turned around and jumped backwards into the air.

Sky's weapon hit the floor with a small shower of sparks and he sent a glare towards the Spartan as Cardin charged to try and hit her.

Rearing back his mace to attack, Pyrrha turned towards him in mid air and blocked the heavy weapon again as she used the momentum and power of the attack to turn herself back around to land on her back. Tyrell though that she would fall onto her back and scramble to get back up, but she surprised him as she spun on the ground and kicked the feet out from under Sky.

Cardin tried to hit her with his bare fist, but she pushed herself from off the ground and away from him as the balled fist struck the ground.

She then jumped back towards Cardin as he was just getting up from punching the ground and couldn't defend himself fast enough as she then slid over his back and launched herself into the air.

Turning back to face Cardin midair, Pyrrha threw her shield at him which connected with the side of his head and sent him falling to the ground. Tyrell gave her points for skill when the shield bounced off Cardin's head and hit Sky's as well.

After landing on the ground, Pyrrha back flipped high into the air and grabbed her shield. Once that was done she landed on the back of Sky with an audible crack as she pinned him down. His Aura fell into the red zone after that and he was now out of the duel.

Tyrell winced slightly at the sight as he felt sorry for the poor boy who probably now had a broken back.

' _Now I see why Ms. Goodwitch said to worry for team CRDL instead of Pyrrha. Those poor souls.'_ Tyrell though as Cardin and the rest of his team had managed to get back up to face their powerful opponent.

Pyrrha looked up at her opponents as she stood up after crushing Sky's back. Russel and Dove both seemed to have gained confidence to face her after seeing their teammate treated like that as they grew angered expressions.

Cardin was still recovering so both Russel and Dove charged the girl at full speed. Pyrrha did the same thing she did earlier against Cardin as she gained a burst of speed and rushed Russel. She jammed her shield into his gut and then followed it up by kicking him away.

Dove carried a straight sword himself and tried to aim for the girl's head. Pyrrha and Dove were locked in a dance of dodging and sending blows. The boy was decent with the sword, but lacked in a few areas that Tyrell would mention to Ms. Goodwitch later.

Pyrrha had again gained the upper hand and got past his guard and spin kicked him away. Dove managed to land on his feet and as he did so Cardin sprinted past him.

After gaining some momentum, the mace wielder jumped into the air with his mace held high to smash Pyrrha into the ground. She jumped away quickly as the powerful weapon had yet again smashed the ground where she just stood a moment ago.

Pyrrha then transformed her weapon yet again into its rifle form and fired upon the tall boy. Russel saved his leader by jumping in front of him and deflected the projectiles with his dual daggers.

Dove had begun charging in again while Russel sprinted to gain some speed. Then, jumping when he was halfway to the Spartan, he did something the Sentinel though not possible.

He managed to roll himself in midair and continued to do so as he propelled himself towards his opponent. But instead of attacking with his daggers out, he chose to kick out with his feet instead which landed on the girl's raised shield.

That was when Dove came in and both he and Russel attacked her together with multiple attacks.

Pyrrha had met each of their attacks with defense, but Tyrell was glad to see that they were able to get her on the defensive after the beating she had been dealing to them.

They kept trying to get around her guard by flipping around her, but she managed to deflect all of their blows. That was when they immediately got themselves away from her as Cardin reared his mace back to strike her down in a single blow.

Unfortunalty for them, she rolled under the mace and Cardin had missed completely. She then faced all three of them and began firing on them with her transformed weapon.

Cardin blocked the projectiles with ease as he swung his mace in a circular motion and tried for another attack, but Pyrrha beat him to it as she kneed the boy in the jaw. He quickly recovered and begun to attack yet again as they engaged in trading blows.

Well, more of Cardin getting hit by her sword and shield and her dodging his slow attacks.

The boy was tiring as he was unable to block more of her blows and received more damage in return. He tried to attack but his already slow attacks became sluggish and even easier for her to dodge.

Eventually Cardin reeled back and Russel took his place instead as he charged with both daggers raised. Her weapon went under another transformation as it extended further out and became that of a long spear.

' _How many times can that weapon change?'_ Tyrell thought in wonder as he continued to watch the fight progress.

She didn't even have to block most of his attacks as she just moved her head out of the way when he tried to aim there. In a last ditch attempt to land a hit on the girl, Russel threw his left dagger at her which she easily sidestepped.

She then made him pay for it as she threw her shield which connected with his head and knocked him off balance. She followed it up by gripping the end of her weapon so she would have more range and swinging in a wide arc that connected with his jaw and sent his Aura into the red zone along with Sky's.

Dove then replaced Russel and continued where he had left off, by trying to get a single hit on the girl. Pyrrha met him blow for blow and thrusted her spear towards him.

He raised his sword in defense and just barely blocked it from hitting his midsection. He then back flipped to avoid getting hit and stood next to his team leader, ready to fight.

Tyrell was both surprised and disappointed to see Mr. Winchester rear his mace back and smack his own teammate in the face with it, thus sending him too into the red zone along with his fallen teammates.

Now Cardin was the only remaining one on his team, who had failed to land even a single blow on the Spartan.

Cardin sent his mace crashing into the ground which in turn sent up a wave of explosions towards Pyrrha. She rolled to the side of the incoming explosions and quickly closed the distance between her and Cardin.

A look a slight anger appeared over her face as she continually hacked and slashed at the boy. She eventually sent him flying into the air with a powerful upwards swing of her sword.

She too jumped into the air with a powerful leap and continued to fight the boy in midair. After overpowering him, she launched herself towards him by using her shield as a foothold and wrapped him in a headlock of sorts.

With a twist of her body, Pyrrha spun not only herself, but Cardin as well towards the ground. When they reached it, Cardin had hit the ground with so much force that he shattered it like he did with his mace.

His Aura then too hit the red zone and the match was over. The lights turned back on and Tyrell squinted his eyes for a brief moment so they could adjust to the light.

Glynda walked over to stand next to the downed Cardin with a small smile on her face as she said, "Well done Ms. Nikos. You will have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

Cardin had mumbled something, but Tyrell ignored it as he looked around the stage. Dove had apparently gotten up and was helping Sky by supporting his right shoulder and Russel was trying to get Cardin back up onto his feet.

"Now that is a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more class. Are there any volunteers that would like to go?" Glynda asked as she scanned the room for any raised hands, but was disappointed to see none.

"How about you Ms. Belladonna? You haven't participated at all in the last few classes." Glynda called on Blake and the young girl closed her book quickly as if it contained a valuable secret that she wished to share with no one. "Why don't you-"

Glynda was cut off as Mercury raised his hand suddenly and said simply, "I'll do it."

"Very well, who would you like to fight?" Glynda asked. Mercury's eyes traveled the room for a brief moment when his eyes rested on Tyrell. The Sentinel prepared himself incase his "ally" chose to fight him.

"I'll fight…" Mercury was still looking at Tyrell, but he then surprised the knight when he said, "Her." Pointing at Pyrrha instead of the Sentinel. Tyrell relaxed somewhat, for he was unsure how he would have been able to fight after two nights with no peaceful sleep.

Glynda looked at him and asked, "Mercury right? I'm sorry, but Ms. Nikos has just completed a match, I suggest you find another partner."

Pyrrha then spoke up and said, "No professor, it's alright." Then looking towards Mercury she said in a kind manner, "I would be happy to spar with you."

Mercury smirked and began to make his way down towards the fighting stage as Pyrrha readjusted her armor and checked her weapons.

Tyrell was looking directly straight at the boy with a glare for he felt that something was off.

' _Why the sudden interest to fight her?'_ Tyrell thought to himself as Mercury had walked onto the stage and positioned himself opposite of Pyrrha.

"Now if both combatants are ready, then I will begin the match." Glynda said looking at the two combatants. Pyrrha nodded her head in confirmation while Mercury just assumed a brawlers stance with his fists held up in front of him.

"Begin." Glynda said as she stepped off the stage and stood next to the Sentinel yet again as the buzzer rang out. The lights had not dimmed as they had for the previous fight between CRDL and Pyrrha, but remained on instead.

Pyrrha charged first towards the boy with her shield to her side and her weapon in its short sword mode. Mercury charged her himself and instead of using his fists, he lifted his leg up high enough to kick her in the chest. Pyrrha blocked it and lashed out with her sword aiming for his legs.

Tyrell didn't notice it before, but Mercury had some form of gauntlets that wrapped themselves around his ankles. They were black and silver, much like the boy's outfit, and had small silver cylinders that circled around his back ankle.

With no way to block it in time, being so close to his opponent, Mercury took the hit and it caused him to lose his balance and fall on his back. However, he quickly recovered as he spun himself on the ground until he pushed himself up with his hand to stand up.

He then back flipped away from the girl to gain some distance so she couldn't press her attack.

The two then charged one another yet again and this time Mercury lifted his legs up higher to attack her from the sides but Pyrrha managed to defend both with her sword and shield.

Small sparks could be seen coming off the shield when the boy's boots connected with it. She eventually pushed him away and Mercury slid backwards when she bashed him with her shield.

It surprised Tyrell to see actual surprise in the boy's face as he seemed slightly impressed in Pyrrha's skills as a fighter.

A shot rang out from his feet as he used the firearm in his boots to launch himself slightly into the air. There he flipped himself towards the girl and brought his left leg down onto her.

He met her shield again, but this time the kick pushed Pyrrha backwards and he quickly got another one aimed for her side as she hastily blocked it. Pyrrha rolled away from him to gain distance, but Mercury didn't give it to her as he ran at her as soon as she got up.

Mercury then used the speed of his run to jump and launch multiple kicks that continued to push the girl back with her shield raised.

Pyrrha had flipped her sword around to angle it towards him, but to do so she had threw it up into the air and that left her with no way to attack for the moment.

Mercury saw this and kicked out with his left leg and came close to landing a solid hit on her if she had not blocked the kick with her sword arm.

When the sword came back down Mercury had tried to attack with his opposite leg, but she grabbed her sword and deflected the attack. He sped up suddenly and, after trading a few blows, had kicked her sword away and imbedded it into the stage floor.

Pyrrha looked at her weapon for a moment, no look of worry on her face, and then back at Mercury who smirked at her. He then spin kicked the girl who tried to get her shield up, but Tyrell knew that she wouldn't be fast enough to block it.

Just when he thought that Mercury, who was about to accomplish what a team could not, the Sentinel was surprised at what happened next.

It appeared that Pyrrha was fast enough to bring her hand up towards the incoming boot, and with a wave of her hand she somehow deflected it.

This caused Mercury to lose the momentum of his attack and even staggered him somewhat as he thought about what just happened.

He was kneeling and looking at the floor, but looked up just in time to see Pyrrha grab her sword and charge him shield first. The boy jumped up and planted his feet onto her shield and two bursts were heard as he launched himself off her shield and stood.

Pyrrha then began to close the distance when the boy looked towards both Ms. Goodwitch and Tyrell and said in a clam manner, "I forfeit."

This came to both Tyrell and Pyrrha as a surprise and the Spartan was almost upon him, but slowed down just in time to pass him.

She had a confused look on her face and was wondering why he just gave up. "You don't even wish to finish the fight?" This time Tyrell spoke up as he looked at the boy in question.

"Why would I? She's a world renowned fighter and our skills are obviously leagues apart. I couldn't beat her." Mercury said with a smirk that said that he didn't care to forfeit instead of losing to his opponent.

"Well Ms. Nikos is the winner of the match, again. Perhaps you will think harder next time before choosing an opponent." Glynda said as she marked Pyrrha down with another win and sent a disappointed look towards Mercury.

"I'll be sure to do that." Mercury said with a mock smile as he looked at Tyrell one last time with a smirk and walked off the stage.

A bell rang out, signaling the end of the class for the students. Glynda then quickly announced one last thing before everyone left.

"Remember class that the dance is this Sunday so be ready, but classes start right back up on Monday so don't be late." Glynda warned as most of the students were already at the door to leave.

"A dance Ms. Goodwitch? What is the occasion if I may ask?" Tyrell asked as he approached the Combat instructor.

Glynda turned around to face him with raised eyebrows, surprised at his lack of knowledge, before saying, "Right, you are still new here at Beacon. The annual Beacon dance is a tradition performed by the school. It is held once every year to provide the students a chance to… get away from the stress of their work and training to become Hunters."

Tyrell nodded in understanding. "It is good to allow oneself time to rest and relax from their daily struggles. How long has this tradition stood?"

"It began a few years after Beacon was first built, even before Professor Ozpin became this school's Headmaster." Glynda smiled slightly at what must have been a fond memory, but it soon vanished as she then asked, "Will you be attending the dance, Sir Tyrell?"

The Sentinel was caught off guard at the question.

"Isn't the dance for the students only?" He asked in confusion. Glynda sighed lightly as she readjusted her glasses.

"The Beacon staff, mainly the teachers, will supervise the dance to make sure that no fighting breaks out or in case something else occurs. However, it is an option to not attend the dance, but it would be much appreciated if you chose to help keep the students under control." Glynda said in her still neutral voice, devoid of emotion.

Tyrell had never had the pleasure of attending a dance of any kind, or if he had then the Curse had removed any memory of it once he had been branded.

The Sentinel looked up with a smile on his tired face as he said, "That would be nice Ms. Goodwitch. You can count on me being there."

…

 _He had awoken in the Abyss for the third time since the nightmares began. The cracks in the ceiling had changed. Not only were there more now, but the older ones that were there to begin with had grown larger in size._

 _The black and orange flames licked through the cracks with some form of hunger that the Sentinel could not place._

 _With a sigh, Tyrell awaited for the inevitable entities that would appear from the white fog that currently surrounded his ankles._

 _He waited… and waited. But they had not appeared._

" _What is going on?" Tyrell said aloud to the black void that surrounded him, but heard no response as he expected._

 _After what felt like an hour had gone by with no sign of the entities, the Sentinel sat himself down with his armored legs crossed to wait when he would wake up. Almost immediately getting bored, he decided to try to reach out with his soul to try and find… something._

 _Anything that would give him answers as to why he was having these nightmares._

 _Closing his eyes and focusing his mind and body, Tyrell saw his soul appear from his mind's eye. The small white orb penetrated the darkness of the Abyss, but it all felt cold around him._

 _He sent out pulses with his soul to try and locate anything that would help him, and as he feared, came up with nothing._

 _Sighing audibly, Tyrell opened his eyes to find the white light from the previous nightmare in front of him. Surprised, Tyrell stood up slowly, waiting for any surprise attacks or for the armored entity to appear._

 _When he was fully standing, nothing had come from the light or from the fog to attack him. He slowly made his way towards the white light, intending to go through it._

 _That was when an entity appeared from behind the white light. It was not the normal entities that had given him chase the previous night, nor the armored entity that had hacked his arm off._

 _Instead was what appeared to be a child version of the usual entities he had seen. It approached him at a casual walk, but the Sentinel drew his sword and pointed it towards the "child's" throat._

 _What surprised Tyrell was that the small entity seemingly stopped when he had pulled out his weapon. Its small white orbs for eyes squinted to small slits as it crouched down and covered its head with its arms, as if in fear._

' _What? Is this some form of trick?' Tyrell though as he did not approach the entity, but he did not put away his sword that was still aimed at it._

" _ **P-please… don't h-hurt me!**_ _" The entity spoke in a surprisingly small and high pitched voice. Tyrell was shocked at first, but only lowered his sword somewhat as he was unsure as how to respond to it. Never had any of the normal entities spoke aloud._

 _Tyrell remained silent, still in shock at this new turn of events. "_ _ **I-I don't mean you any harm, sir.**_ _" It spoke again as it opened one of its eyes from underneath its arms to look at the knight._

 _Finally finding his speech, Tyrell asked, "Is this some trick? Do you think I will be fooled by turning one of your own into a child?"_

 _After he asked this, the child whimpered before saying, "_ _ **Sir, I don't m-mean you any harm. Please listen t-to me!**_ _" Tyrell just starred at it for a few moments before lowering his sword until it was facing the ground._

" _Speak child." The word sounded strange to say considering that the entity before him was not truly a child, but only taking the form of one._

 _The child raised its head again to look at the knight. Seeing that his sword was down, the child rose from its position to spoke._

" _ **Are you Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel?**_ _" It asked as Tyrell nodded to confirm that it was correct. "_ _ **My Lord has sent me to answer your questions, but you'll have to put your sword away.**_ _" It added at the end, eyeing it warily._

 _He didn't want to put it away in case the child turned out to be hostile, or if more entities were waiting in ambush. Letting a large sigh escape, Tyrell sheathed his straight sword and said, "There, no will you answer my questions?"_

 _It nodded its head happily and began to jump up and down like a child excited to receive a present. "_ _ **Thank you! Thank you for trusting me!**_ _"_

"… _My questions child." Tyrell reminded it as to why it was here. It ceased its excitement and quickly calmed down to look at the Sentinel._

" _ **Oh right… Sorry. Now before we begin, we need to go through the light.**_ _" It said, but soon regretted it as Tyrell tensed up._

" _Why can we not talk here?" Tyrell asked in both confusion and slight anger as he waited for the trap to be sprung._

 _It shuffled its feet around uncomfortably as it pulled its hands behind its back and said, "_ _ **We can't talk here, because the monsters will hear us.**_ _" Just saying that made it look around nervously._

" _You mean the entities?" Tyrell asked as he too looked around in search of the monsters that had chased him throughout his nightmares. Finding none he focused back onto the child._

" _ **No. I mean the-**_ _" The child was cut off as a Humanity Sprite emerged from the fog, but this one was different. Instead of being black and with a white outline, it was pure white and began the process of spawning an entity. "_ _ **It's them! Grab my hand!**_ _" The child screamed as it came closer towards the Sentinel with its hand reaching out to grab his._

 _Tyrell had been too busy looking at the now white entity that spawned from the strange sprite. Instead of having a white orb in its center chest, a golden light formed there instead. This one also had the shape of a woman as it fully formed._

" _She" was only a head taller than the child and had two golden eyes that looked at Tyrell as soon as it finished forming itself._

 _Others were forming as well, all with golden orbs in their chest and all in different shapes and sizes. He noticed that some of them even had extra appendages such as a tail or horns. The woman that had first formed began to run towards Tyrell and the child with her hand stretched out._

 _Tyrell felt the touch of the child as it grasped his right hand with both of its smaller ones. They were colder than a winter night and numbed his hand quickly. He tried to yank them free, but it appeared that the child had as strong a grip as Nora._

 _It pulled him towards the light just as the female entity reached them. All Tyrell could see was a blinding white light as they stepped through._

…

 _When Tyrell regain his sight, he was in what appeared to be the opposite of the Abyss. Instead of a never ending black void, the Sentinel looked around to see nothing but white._

" _The child!" Tyrell said aloud as he looked around trying to find the small entity, but had no luck. Suddenly a small laughter penetrated the blank Abyss as Tyrell tried to find the source of the laughter._

 _When he turned around he found the child sitting cross legged in front of him. "Child! What is this place? What were those other entities?" The Sentinel demanded as the child laughed some more. "Stop laughing!" Tyrell shouted becoming annoyed at the child._

" _ **What a fool.**_ _" It said as it began to stand up. As it did so it began to grow in size until it reached a little above his waist. "_ _ **What a damn fool.**_ _" It said with its voice growing deeper._

" _W-what is this?" Tyrell said in both shock and confusion. The entity grew taller until it reached Tyrell's head as it shook with sinister laughter._

" _ **You humans are so easy to fool. All it took was the form of a child to get you to trust me.**_ _" It stopped its growth, and now armor began to appear on its body. Very familiar armor._

 _The armored entity struck Tyrell in his gut with the force of a Great Hammer as Tyrell fell to his knees. It held out its opposite hand and the same dark Black Knight Greataxe formed._

 _It gripped its handle and held it firmly over its shoulder. "_ _ **So how may I answer your questions?**_ _" It asked in a mock voice as it kicked Tyrell in his stomach with the same amount of force as the punch._

 _Now the Sentinel fell to his side clutching his hurt body. It continued to laugh as it kicked his form a few more times. Tyrell tried to draw his sword, but the entity saw this and stepped down onto his wrist, breaking it._

 _Grunting in pain, Tyrell gripped his now broken wrist as the pain set in. It bent down and grabbed Tyrell by his armored collar with its free hand and held him up._

" _ **I will allow you to ask one question, ask wisely.**_ _" It warned as all the laughter it held just moments ago disappeared and it looked into Tyrell's eyes. Being this close to it Tyrell could see the two white orbs beneath the helmet that looked into him._

 _Through his pain filled gasps for air, Tyrell managed to blurt out, "W-why am I h-having these nightmares?"_

 _It grew silent at the question, even letting Tyrell down somewhat, before yanking him back up so close that they're faces were only inches apart._

" _ **Because, the Dark Lord comes…**_ _" It said in an emotionless voice as Tyrell then blacked out from the pain._

* * *

 **Wow! This is the longest I have written as of yet! I'm actually proud of how long this one is. I guess that you guys and gals deserve an extra long chapter at how long you all had to wait, sorry about that again. I will try to get the next chapter out sooner than this one, but I'll have to see how school goes.**

 **Well it seems that a dark force will be descending on Remnant soon, and no one except Tyrell knows. Bummer. I hope you all are enjoying this story and I look forward to how some of you will react.**

 **Well that's it, so I'll talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Over 10,000 views. Wow. To other authors on this site I'm sure that this is a small feat, but to me it's a big accomplishment. Thank you guys so much for helping me get this far! I'm really sorry for the wait on this chapter. With school and college prep, all I want to do on the weekends is play video games and hang out with my friends.**

 **Well not much else to say except that we will be seeing reinforcements arrive on Remnant, as you all have been so patiently been waiting for… but not in this chapter. Sorry everyone, but you will all just have to wait just a little bit longer. Well onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Fires Far: Part III**_

Adam Taurus had always held a deep hatred for Humanity. As long as he could remember both he and his race were discriminated by humans for their differences, and were treated as lesser beings.

When Adam had joined the White Fang, he had the intentions of changing the world so that one day all Faunus would be free of Humanity's hatred. To this day he still has the same intention, but when the former leader of the Fang stepped down, a new leader had stepped up to take their position.

He took that position.

Adam had been the one to change how the White Fang had previously operated. They weren't getting anything done by just waiving signs around in the air and demanding to be treated as equals. Now, they don't just demand equality, they take it.

Instead of peaceful protests, he would arm his brothers and sisters with weapons. They would burn down shops that refused to serve Faunus, they would rob homes and stores to feed the children, and would kill those that stood in their way.

' _That's why Blake left.'_ Adam thought to himself as he was waiting for a call from his boss. The day of the train robbery was when Blake had abandoned the White Fang, and Adam did not take kindly to deserters.

He couldn't understand why she held any pity for the people on board that train. They were humans and they deserved to die, but she felt the need to protect the innocent despite their race.

Adam scoffed at the thought as he felt that no human was innocent when it came to how his race was treated.

A small vibrating sound could be heard from his Scroll telling the bull Faunus that the call he was expecting had arrived. Adam pulled the small device out from his leather jackets inner pocket.

It was black in color and had the same red emblem that was on the back of his jacket. When he opened the screen and accepted the call, he was met with the face of his boss.

Cinder looked down at her black Scroll with a neutral expression on her face. Adam kept a straight face, but she knew that he held hatred for her. That didn't matter however as she needed to inform him about her new client.

"Hello Adam." Cinder addressed as the bull Faunus simply nodded his head as a silent 'hello.' "I have news for you and orders that need to be carried out immediately."

Adam had a look of anger for a split second before going back to his neutral mask that he wore when speaking to his boss and most people in general. He did not like being ordered around by the likes of human filth, but Cinder had made a deal with the White Fang to help his people. One he could not refuse no matter how badly he wanted to.

Cinder saw the brief look of anger that appeared on the bull Faunus's face, but she waved it off as just the anger that most Faunus held for Humanity.

"What are your orders Cinder?" It was more of a statement than a question, and Cinder narrowed her eyes at the leader of the White Fang. Most of her associates, including Emerald and Mercury, addressed her as 'Ms. Fall' as it showed not only her position to others, but her dominance over those she considered beneath her.

"Phase two over at Beacon is under way. I need you to finish moving the rest of your troops to our safe house down at Mountain Glenn. I also need you to begin securing as much food and water as fast as possible." Cinder ordered as Adam raised a brow slightly at the new orders.

"Why the need for more food and water? We have plenty for the troops here to last us for a whole year." Adam asked as he wanted to know why he was ordered to retrieve a resource that they already had plenty of.

Cinder replied by saying, "It's for incase of an emergency if anything were to happen up at Mountain Glenn. I'm only looking out for my allies." Someone who just met Cinder would have easily missed the lie, but Adam was not so dull when it came down to hearing a human lie.

"Don't lie to me Cinder, I'm the commander of the White Fang and if you wish to keep your partnership with us going then I suggest that you inform me of everything that involves us." Adam demanded as a small scowl formed over his brow as his eyes turned to slits behind his Grimm mask.

Cinder looked somewhat annoyed at the sudden boldness that Adam was showing her, but knew that he was right. Until Abell could actually show her that he had an army, then she could not trust him and cut her ties with the Fang.

If Adam secured the necessary resources and Abell provided an army, then she will already have a head start on fulfilling her end of the deal. If Abell couldn't provide her his army, then at least the White Fang would have even more resources to keep their troops strong.

Taking a long sigh Cinder said, "I cannot tell you all of the details right now, but we will need more food and water for what I have planned for the future. It would be smarter to prepare early for the 'Breach' operation incase everything doesn't run smoothly."

Adam knew of the operation that Cinder had codenamed as 'Breach.' They would secure a train full of explosives and take it through the tunnels that connected Mountain Glenn and Vale. Throughout the tunnels they would detach the explosive filled cars so that they would blow holes in the tunnel walls to allow Grimm in.

Then, once they reached the wall that sealed off the tunnels, they would breach it so that a hole would be inside the walls of Vale where hundreds to thousands of Grimm would pour out from the breach to flood the kingdom.

It would be the beginning of the Faunus revolution for a new world.

Adam understood the necessity of gathering necessary materials for when the operation would be underway, but he knew that there was something else that she wasn't telling him.

"I'll order for the gathering of more supplies, but I know that you're hiding something from the White Fang Cinder, and I plan to find out what it is." Adam knew that he might be stepping over some boundaries by stepping up to her, but he wouldn't let herself be dominant over him.

He wouldn't allow anyone, especially a filthy human; have dominance over either him or his goal to save his people.

If Cinder had been affected by the threat she didn't show it as she replied in a slightly seductive voice, "Oh dear Adam, don't worry about a thing. Soon Vale will fall and the Faunus will rule over all of Remnant with you as their leader. You just have to trust me."

' _Trust you? I can barely contain the rage I have for you whenever you step into the same room as me.'_ Adam thought as he just nodded and looked at Cinder with a pointed look.

Suddenly her eyes glowed bright orange, as did the symbols that adorned her red dress. "Just remember, Adam, if you ever think of betraying me I will burn away everything that you have ever held dear." Both Faunus and Human looked at one another for a few moments before Cinder decided to cut off the connection.

Adam starred at the black screen as his rage began to build up again at the threat on his life if he were to disobey his boss. However, he managed to stay calm as he took a few deep breaths as he said, "One day Cinder, one day you'll get yours."

Just then, someone began knocking on the door. "Come in." Adam said after he took one last breath. The door opened and one of his lieutenants walked through it.

He was much taller than Adam himself as he had to duck to avoid knocking his head against the door frame. He had a pair of black and grey wolf ears and a dark grey tail that hung loosely from behind. His Grimm mask had covered his entire face and resembled that of a Beowulf.

The tall Faunus closed the door behind him and then turned around and began his report to Adam. "I have my report for you sir." His voice was deep and a little scraggly but Adam could understand him regardless.

"Go on then." Adam said calmly, now that his anger had left him for the time being. The lieutenant stood in front of him, having to look down at his leader to relay to him his report.

"Sir, things have been running smoothly from the remaining Dust robberies to readying the bombs for the 'Breach' operation. Also, nine out of the ten Paladins that we secured from the Atlas military are already en route to Mountain Glenn as we speak." The lieutenant finished as he then waited silently for what his leader had to say next.

"Nine out of ten? What happened to the tenth Paladin?" Adam questioned as he already had a sneaking suspicion of what happened.

The Paladins were Atlas's latest piece of Anti-Grimm technology to help protect soldiers in the field of battle and push back the Grimm. Standing at around fifteen to twenty feet in height, the battle suit had two mounted energy weapons on its sides, rocket launchers mounted onto its back, and two double barreled machine guns next to the energy weapons.

It was a very valuable piece of hardware, and would help the White Fang in their pursuit of a better world. To have lost even one of them will cut down their chances of success by a decent amount.

"Our good _friend_ Torchwick decided it'd be a good idea to take one of them out for a spin. He used it to pursue a team of Huntresses from Beacon Academy and fought them. The fight resulted in Torchwick almost getting captured, and the Paladin was destroyed by one of the Huntresses. A shame they didn't get him." The lieutenant said disappointed.

Adam could already feel some of his earlier anger return as they were now down one Paladin. One less advantage they would have once the 'Breach' operation was initiated and, with luck, a success.

Adam walked around the room as he pondered about what to do. Finally, coming to a conclusion Adam said, "Continue loading up the trains as planned and make sure that the remaining Paladins make it to Mountain Glenn. Understand?"

The lieutenant nodded his head and said, "Got it." He then left the room, not before ducking his head once again as he left. Adam decided to take a seat in one of the chairs that were in the room.

Pinching the bridge of his nose Adam thought to himself. _'Why do we have to work with humans?'_

…

Cinder had ended the connection with the White Fang leader after neither spoke. She did not feel threatened in the least, but she knew that if she were to continue to keep the White Fang as her pawns then she would have to let Adam know that she was in charge.

If worse came to worse then she could easily have him killed, and a new leader (one she could control better) would take his place. She had just come from Port's class, as she still had to attend classes to keep the student façade up, but as tolerant as she was even she got somewhat irritated from the fat man's ramblings.

' _I hope that he gets killed at the Breach.'_ Cinder thought hopefully as she walked alone in the hallway. The students around her parted out of her path out of caution. Cinder smirked at how easily most of the Beacon students could be intimidated.

She would be meeting up with Emerald and Mercury during lunch, but first she needed to make a request to Abell's little scout.

Cinder's smirk grew as she rounded the corner and saw just who she was looking for talking with a Beacon student: a tall boy with burnt orange hair and a large mace that was currently strapped to his back.

As she drew closer to the knight and boy, Tyrell looked past the boy's shoulder to look directly at her.

When she came within earshot of the two Tyrell told the boy one last thing, but Cinder only heard half of it. "-our conversation later Mr. Winchester. Have a good day." Tyrell said kindly as he began to walk past Cardin to meet with Cinder.

"Sure, whatever professor." Cardin said as he turned to regard his professor and saw a girl that looked like she was one of the transfers from another school. He thought that she looked pretty hot, but when he saw the glare (the kind that said 'go away') that she was giving him he sent her one of his own to show her that he wasn't intimidated.

However, when he saw her eyes flash a dangerous yellow he immediately turned around and left to meet up with his team.

When Tyrell reached her she lost the glare that she sent towards Cardin, and replaced it with that of a small smile as she looked at the retreating boy. Cinder then focused her attention back onto the knight as she said, "Hello Tyrell. How has your day been so far?"

Her tone told the Sentinel that she really didn't care about how his day has been so he instead just asked, "What do you want _Witch_?" Cinder lost the smile that was on her lips as it was then replaced with a disappointed frown.

"So much for being polite." Cinder said in a non-caring tone, but then continued by saying, "I need you to set up a connection with Abell for me. I have matters that need to be discussed with him immediately."

Tyrell frowned at the order given and replied, "I simply cannot call up my Lord at any given moment in time for you. I am only allowed to do so in emergency. Otherwise I must wait for my Lord to contact me. Do you understand?"

"Well you can tell him that this is an emergency when you call him. This information I have to tell him is very important for the next phase of my plan and-"

"Will be safely informed to my Lord when you tell me what it is so I may relay it to him." Tyrell said cutting off the black haired woman. The disappointed frown was now accompanied by a stern glare from the woman as her Aura began to stir, causing her eyes to glow a fiery yellow.

"Follow." Was all Cinder said as she began walking past Tyrell and down the hallway. Seeing that he had gotten a reaction out of the girl, Tyrell allowed himself a small smirk as he followed her down the hall.

Cinder eventually led the two of them to an unoccupied classroom that had a large blackboard at the front of the classroom with a teacher's desk in front of it.

"Why have you brought me here Cinder?" Tyrell asked as she closed the door behind them with an audible click. Was this a trap, or was she securing the area so they could speak? Regardless, the Sentinel did not let down his guard as he looked at Cinder.

Cinder slowly walked down the steps to the front of the room until she came up to the blackboard. "I brought you here to have a talk… with you." Cinder said as she lifted herself up onto the large desk and sat.

"Talk about what?" Tyrell asked as he then stood himself in front of the stairs as if on guard, waiting for someone to try and pass.

Cinder gave Tyrell the same disappointed look that she gave him in the hallway, but the glowing in her eyes had ceased. "I know that you do not trust either of my associates, or me, but if we are to work together in the future. Then we need to be able to cooperate with one another."

"You would be correct in the matter that I do not trust any of you in the slightest." Tyrell said.

"Yes, however, I believe that we can work around this trust issue." Cinder said as she drummed her right hand's fingers on the desk. Her sharp nails were causing a small clicking noise each time they touched the hard wood.

"I'm listening." Tyrell said. He would never truly trust the Witch, or the other two for that matter, for if what Abell said was true about her soul then Cinder would indeed be Remnant's version of a Chaos Witch.

"Since you appear to be having a problem trusting us, then I will be the first one to show that I can trust you." The Witch said as a small smile graced her lips. Tyrell was surprised to hear this coming from who may indeed be a Chaos Witch, but he still held his suspicion of her.

"And how do you plan on showing this knight that you trust him." Tyrell was obviously referring to himself, but that didn't matter as now Cinder shifted herself into a more comfortable position on the desk.

"Why the information that I'm _trusting_ you to deliver to Abell of course. It is very important for the next phase of my plan and I trust you to deliver it to your lord." Cinder finished as she still kept the smile on her face.

"You mentioned this plan of yours before Cinder. What is it, if I may ask?" Tyrell was curious to know what the Witch had planned for Remnant, and how it would affect both his and her people.

"Now now Tyrell, we need to take baby steps first if we're going to be able to fully trust one another in the future." Cinder said with a mock grin as she wagged her index finger left and right.

"As you say, Cinder. Now what is this information that you _trust_ me to deliver?" Tyrell asked and the glow returned to Cinder's eyes as her grin grew somewhat wicked.

…

"An assassin you say?" Abell asked as he took in the new information that Tyrell had just informed him of. Tyrell had slipped back into his dorm room to contact his Lord of Cinder's information of the next phase in her plan.

"Well, not really an assassin my Lord." Tyrell replied as he scratched the back of his neck in uncertainty as to what the woman really wanted. "The Witch had asked for someone with high skill in stealth who would be able to aid her in an upcoming mission that she has planned."

From what Cinder had told him, she was going to be infiltrating the CCT. When Tyrell didn't respond to that she mentioned how it allowed all the kingdoms of Remnant to keep contact with one another. Tyrell would never stop being amazed at how technologically advanced mankind had become on this world.

"I was afraid of this." Abell whispered more to himself, but Tyrell had heard it and questioned him.

"Afraid of what, my Lord?" The Sentinel asked confused.

"With so many of us here, I had originally planned on splitting up the army into three forces. Each force would be lead by one leader. Alonne, Aulnor, and myself." Abell explained and then continued. "I was hoping to avoid sending any of my knights to her aid until _after_ I had arrived."

"I fail to see the problem my Lord. Why can you not spare to send a single one of your men through a portal like you have done with me?" Tyrell asked as he still remained confused on the matter.

Abell took a small sigh as he then said, "I sent you alone to this world because I could _trust_ you. As much as I hold faith in the loyalty of my knights, I am unsure if I have one that meets the Witch's requirements and whom I can trust enough to carry out the task."

When Tyrell remained silent Abell continued, "So if I cannot trust them, then I will have to spare more knights to travel with them to ensure their survival, and so they keep their loyalty." Abell finished the last bit with a hint of anger, but it had disappeared when he said, "As well as that the knights might become overwhelmed by the Grimm creatures without proper reinforcement."

"Now do you understand why I wish to not send out any of my army?" Abell finished as he looked at Tyrell through the visor of his helmet.

Tyrell nodded his head in understanding, but still had a question that he had to ask. "My Lord, why would those whom you saved wish to betray you?" Tyrell could not think of any good reason as to why any of those who used to be afflicted by the Curse would want to betray their savior.

"What you may not understand Tyrell, is that no matter how many times you may save someone, they may never be pleased with your noble efforts. You could have saved their life five times over, and they would still wish to stab you in the back if the chance arose." Abell explained.

"Putting that aside, I don't believe that Cinder will appreciate it if you decide to not help her out when she holds valuable resources that will be needed once you arrive." Tyrell informed Abell at the risk that he may be taking if he chooses to refuse to help the woman.

Abell fell silent to that as he mulled over the information and advice given to him by the Sentinel. After a few moments had passed Abell took in a deep sigh as he spoke once more and said, "I will try and find someone whom I deem trustworthy to send to Remnant to aid the Witch in her plans. You will have to seek them out immediately Tyrell once they have arrived."

"I will my Lord, but I don't believe that whoever you send will be able to stay at Beacon unfortunalty. It may draw too much unwanted attention if another stranger in foreign armor were to pop up here and could result in my cover being exposed." Tyrell said with worry lacing his words as he thought of what might happen if the person Abell sent would recognize him.

That would draw suspicion not only towards him, but it would most likely result in his cover being exposed.

' _I would not survive if they were to hunt me down.'_ Tyrell thought with dread. Abell brought him back from his thoughts when he said, "I will have someone there by tomorrow night Tyrell. Tell me where I should send them where you will be able to locate and retrieve them quickly."

Tyrell thought hard, but quickly, for a location for the new arrival where he could meet up with them. Right here at Beacon was out of the question. The Forever Fall forest would take far too long to search through, and would be too dangerous. The only other place that would be close, and help keep the arrival safe would be… right inside Vale's walls.

Remembering where Cinder had said to place the new ally, Tyrell looked up at his Lord and told him where Cinder's hideout in Vale was located.

…

Shortly after telling his Lord where to send the new arrival on Remnant, Tyrell had decided to visit Beacon's Library to continue his research on Hedrikon.

They would need to know as much about the abandoned continent as they could if they were going to have the kingdom move there.

He was surprised to find Blake alone in the library looking at some giant version of a Scroll. After grabbing the necessary books he needed to continue his research, Tyrell walked over to Ms. Belladonna as her eyes quickly moved from left to right across the screen.

"May I?" Tyrell asked while gesturing towards the chair opposite of the girl. Blake looked up with an annoyed look on her face. When she noticed that it was Tyrell, her face softened somewhat, and she only nodded her head that it was okay for him to sit with her.

Even though it was only for a second or two, Tyrell saw how fatigued the poor girl looked.

Dark bags hung underneath her eyes, her face was just as pale as Ms. Schnee's skirt, and it looked slightly sunken in. "When's the last time you ate Blake?" Tyrell asked with concern lacing his words.

She didn't respond and Tyrell cleared his throat to get her attention. "O-oh. Sorry Professor." Blake said quickly without taking her eyes off the screen to even look in his direction. Tyrell shook his head as he repeated the question, and this time Blake answered. "Yesterday… I think."

That was the answer that he was afraid of. "Blake, you should eat." Then looking her over once more Tyrell added, "And get some rest." This time Blake looked away from whatever she was doing on the large Scroll and sent Tyrell a glare.

Then she said with clear annoyance, "Professor, while I appreciate the concern, I can take care of myself. I'll eat soon, but right now this is more important." With that she turned back towards the screen, but Tyrell wasn't done with her just yet.

"No Blake, I may be your professor, but that doesn't mean that I can't show concern for the wellbeing of my students. My friends." There was a silence between the two for a few moments. Blake slowly looked back at him with a look that read confusion and surprise.

"You… think of us as your friends?" Blake asked not in mock, but as a genuine question.

Tyrell nodded his head to confirm it and said, "Where I came from Blake, life was harsh. People would die every day for multiple reasons. Disease, theft… murder." The last one he spoke softly as he was still unnerved over how all the citizens were ordered to be slaughtered. An order given by his Lord.

"I was a high-ranking knight in my kingdom. Now with that there were certain perks that came with it. Nobility, fame, a roof over my head, and food. You can't forget the food." Tyrell said with a light chuckle. Blake didn't laugh, or even grin; she just stared at him waiting for him to continue.

Taking a sigh Tyrell did. "In my kingdom that is what most knights wished to aspire to. To become a powerful figure and stand up there alongside with my Lord. But what most didn't know were the drawbacks to being of such high rank."

Blake took her hands off the keyboard as she listened to her Professor with more interest now. "What were the drawbacks?"

"When one is placed upon such a high mantle, you tend to become separated by those who put you there." Tyrell said with a sad tone. "It became impossible to make friends with those that I fought alongside. The knights who were below me, in rank, resented me and didn't want anything to do with me."

"However, I was not alone in this struggle." Tyrell said with some of the sadness leaving his voice. Blake remained silent as she now gave her professor her full attention.

"There were two other knights that were also of high rank alongside me. The Wanderer and the Silver Demon." Tyrell said as he thought of what both of them were doing at this very moment. No doubt doing something to help move the kingdom to Remnant.

"Were they friends of yours?" Blake broke her silence to ask.

"No." Was all Tyrell said, and it had caught the Huntress-in-training off guard as she wasn't expecting that answer.

"No?" Blake echoed as she looked at the man before her.

"No, I wouldn't classify them as my friends at all, but rather close acquaintances." Tyrell clarified as he then explained. "The Silver Demon rarely spoke to either me or the Wanderer. He only spoke to our Lord, but even then he would say few words. The Wanderer did talk to me from time to time, but he would rather spend his time with training the knights and meditating."

There was no spite in his voice that Blake was expecting from him when talking about his so called "friends."

"I would spend every day with no one to talk to most of the time. Becoming a high ranked knight lost its charm when there was rarely anyone to socialize with." The sad tone returned to his voice and Blake felt a pang of pity for the knight.

"Professor-" Blake began but Tyrell cut her off.

"Tyrell, Blake." The Sentinel said.

" _Tyrell,_ why are you telling me all this?" Blake was curious to know, and desperately wanted to get back to her research on the White Fang's most recent attacks.

"When I came here, I didn't know anyone. I had to travel across the lands, fighting off Grimm day and night, and when I had reached the Forever Fall forest I had met a kind man there." Tyrell said remembering his meeting with Qrow. It was a half truth, but he didn't care at the moment.

"He didn't know me and I him, but he extended a hand to help a stranger." Tyrell said. Blake returned herself to being silent to wait for Tyrell to continue.

"Then when he took me to Vale. Me, a stranger and yet he took me into his kingdom. In two days I felt closer to this man than I did with either the Wanderer or the Silver Demon in three _years_." Tyrell then removed his helmet to show Blake his face that he had been hiding from everyone for the last few days.

She was surprised to see how tired he looked. Maybe even more so than her. Dark circles surrounded his eyes with the addition of heavy bags underneath to accompany them. Not to mention how bloodshot his eyes were as well. His skin was pale and she could see the veins that ran beneath his cheeks.

"Tyrell, what-" Blake began but was again cut off as the Sentinel held up his hand to silence her.

"When Ozpin offered me a job to work here at Beacon I was unsure at first, but after my 'guide' had left me I did not wish to go back to staying alone and without companions to talk to. So I took up the job and the requirements that came along with it." He chuckled again, but this time it sounded weaker.

"I-I don't know-" Blake began but for the third time she was cut off as Tyrell continued.

"After my spar with Cardin, I had gotten to meet your leader Ruby. Eventually I met more and more of both teams RWBY and JNPR, and I had been overfilled with joy to have finally met people who didn't care what my ranking was, and accepted me for who I am." Blake raised a brow at how casually he used Cardin's name, but didn't bring it up to avoid being cut off a fourth time.

"And for that kindness shown to me by you and your friends, I will always be concerned with all of your well being. Team RWBY, JNPR, and a few others I have come to call friends, and that includes you Blake." Tyrell said with a tired smile as Blake just looked at the knight with confusion, but a sense of awe as well.

She then did something that she hadn't done for the last few days. She smiled. Not because he was showing his concern for her (as all of her team had been doing the last few days), but for the reason that she had helped bring a little light into her profess- friend's life.

That smile soon faded as she then said, "Thank you Tyrell, for your concern over my well being, but I want to get back to my research if you do not mind." As nice as it was to have a conversation, Blake wanted to get back to saving lives of the innocent. And that started with finding out where the White Fang's base of operations was hiding.

To her surprise, he kept his smile as he slowly stood up and grabbed the books he had brought with him. Blake did not pay attention to them as she nodded to him in farewell, but he did not go without saying one last thing.

"I'll leave you to your own devices Blake and thank you for the talk. Please do get some rest and eat something soon. If not for me, then for your team." With that he walked away from the cat Faunus.

"You do the same Tyrell. For your friends." Blake called back. She couldn't see it, but the small smile that he held on at the end of their conversation grew wider as he headed for the exit.

"I wish I could…" Tyrell whispered to himself not expecting anyone to hear, but Blake had heard it with her advanced hearing due to her Faunus heritage. The cat Faunus was confused at the small statement, but would have to ask him about it at a later time. She needed to get back to her work.

Blake watched him depart for a few more seconds before she returned to her research, but a thought struck her.

' _Three years without friends. I can relate.'_ Blake thought somewhat sadly as she thought back to her earlier days in the Fang before and after it had turned violent. She had Adam as a mentor, but they weren't exactly what you would call friends.

Just as she was about to return to her work, Blake noticed a small red light appear on her screen.

…

Classes had ended for the day and Tyrell was just about to head to the Cafeteria to meet up with teams RWBY and JNPR for dinner when Glynda had informed him that Ozpin wanted to see him.

He remembered how to reach the Headmaster's office from his first visit to Beacon, and was now currently walking out of the elevator to where Glynda's work area was.

Knocking on the door a few times Tyrell waited for the Headmaster to give him permission to enter.

"Come in." Came Ozpin's voice from inside his office and the Sentinel pushed opened one of the doors and walked in.

Tyrell immediately recognized the man in green as the Headmaster, but the tall man standing to the left of him Tyrell did not recognize.

He wore a long white overcoat with a grey undershirt while a red tie hung neatly beneath the grey undershirt. His hands hung down at his sides and Tyrell noticed that only one hand was covered in a white glove while the other was bare.

"Hello Tyrell. I take it that you have been settling well into Beacon these last few days?" Ozpin asked with a warm smile on his face as he gestured for the Sentinel to take a seat. The man next to Ozpin just silently starred at Tyrell with a hard look on his face that told Tyrell that this man was a soldier.

Being closer to the man Tyrell could see his features more clearly. His hair was mainly black in color, but the sides of his hair had grown faded and turned a light grey. His complexion was white and his eyes were a dark blue.

Tyrell took him up on the offer and replied, "Greetings to you as well Ozpin. You would be correct. Beacon has been a much different experience from my village. Thank you again for allowing me to stay here for the time being."

Ozpin nodded his head to the Sentinel before turning to face the man next to him. "Tyrell, I would like you to meet James Ironwood, General of the Atlas military and Headmaster of Atlas's own Hunter Academy."

At being addressed, Ironwood lost the hard look on his face and replaced it with a small smile before extending his non-gloved hand. Tyrell stood up and shook it with his armored glove.

His grip was strong, but Tyrell made sure that he too showed the General how strong his grip was as well.

"It is a pleasure to meet you General Ironwood. I am Sir Tyrell, the Sentinel." Tyrell introduced himself in a kind manner before each man let go of each other's hand, and Tyrell sat back down into his chair.

Ironwood replied with his own greeting, "I feel the same way Sir Tyrell. Ozpin has told me much about you. Is it true that your village has survived far outside in the wilderness for so long against the Grimm?" His voice was deep, but Tyrell was not intimidated in the least.

"Yes General. My Lord has kept our village safe from the Grimm hordes for years." Tyrell said as the General raised a questioning brow at the mention of his Lord.

"You're 'Lord'?" Ironwood said with confusion. Tyrell nodded his head to confirm that Ironwood hadn't misheard.

"Who is exactly you're lord?" Ironwood asked as his hard look returned and the Sentinel felt somewhat uneasy under it.

"My Lord is our village's leader. He works tirelessly to make sure that our village remains safe and secure from the Grimm, but even he cannot keep us safe from everything." Tyrell said as he looked down for a moment as his voice lowered.

"The famine." Ironwood said. Tyrell snapped his head back up to face the General, surprised at how much Ozpin has already told him. Nodding his head slowly in conformation, Tyrell sent a quick look over in Ozpin's direction as the man took a sip from his mug of coffee.

"That is why I've been sent to seek help from one of the kingdoms of Remnant to aid us in our time of need. You see General, the lands of which we live off of have been dried up of resources and have been impossible to live off of." Tyrell explained the (fake) situation to Ironwood and how he came to be in Vale.

Ironwood remained silent throughout his entire explanation, but spoke once Tyrell had finished. "That is quite the situation that you are in. How have you decided to help him Oz?" Ironwood asked his fellow Headmaster as he turned toward the man.

"I promised our friend here that I would inform the council of his village and their current situation, and try to convince them to help aid them. All Tyrell has to do in the meantime is work here at Beacon as the assistant to the rest of the Beacon staff." Ozpin said as a small smile tugged on his lips.

Ironwood let out a small chuckle as he returned his focus back to Tyrell. "That's Oz for you. Always finding ways to help people, and getting them to help him in return."

Tyrell smiled somewhat before asking Ozpin a question. "How has that been going Ozpin?" Tyrell held a serious tone in his voice. One that removed the smile off the Headmaster as Ozpin looked him in the eye.

Ozpin had a look of pity on his face as he informed Tyrell of the council's decision on the matter. "I am sorry Tyrell, but the council has refused to aid a village so far outside the kingdom's territory. They don't want to risk losing the resources along with any Bullheads incase of any Grimm attacks. I am truly sorry that I could not convince them otherwise."

Tyrell looked down at his feet for a moment as he thought of how he had failed to retrieve any supplies to help aid their kingdom's people. Looking back up at Ozpin Tyrell said, "It is alright Ozpin, it is not your fault for their decision. I will inform my Lord shortly of the situation. We will think of something I'm sure. Is that all Ozpin?"

"Not quite." Ozpin said. When Tyrell said nothing the Headmaster continued. "The upcoming dance is in two days, as I'm sure Glynda has already informed you of. The following week students will be shadowing professional Huntsmen and Huntresses. Since you are not a professional Huntsman, I will be having you assist a teacher from Beacon with this upcoming assignment."

"What do these Huntsmen do exactly? Also, why would I need to help an already professional Huntsman?" Tyrell asked confused.

Ozpin replied, "Students in their first year will be assigned to shadow a Huntsman on their daily assignment. This can range from patrolling the walls to clearing out nests of Grimm. There are many different jobs that each Huntsman fulfills."

"As for why, you so much won't be helping them really, but rather just are there with the students to learn. That is not to say that you lack skill when it comes to combat." The man in green tacked onto the end as he took another sip of his mug.

"Who will I be assisting when the time comes around Ozpin?" Tyrell asked.

"That has yet to be determined, but I will have them contact you once it is decided. Thank you for your time Tyrell. You are dismissed." Tyrell nodded at the man's answer and stood to leave, but Ironwood wasn't done talking yet.

"You said that you would be contacting your lord soon about the Vale council's decision. How do you plan to contact him? If I'm thinking correctly, a village that far outside the kingdom couldn't have a working CCT, or any type of communication to the outside world." Ironwood said as he now gave Tyrell a suspicious look.

The Sentinel was not prepared for this question. If he told them by Scroll, then they would know he would be lying since they would be able to contact his "village" if Tyrell could. Remaining silent for a few moments made the General grow even more suspicious.

Tyrell looked over to Ozpin, but the man too seemed to be curious on how the knight planned on contacting his leader.

After a few more seconds had passed Tyrell finally said, "I don't have to tell you anything General. That is my business and my business alone."

This answer brought a frown to Ironwood's face, but Tyrell was surprised to see the frown turn into a smile.

"I do hope that we will have more time to talk in the future Sir Tyrell." Ironwood said with the same smile that Tyrell couldn't help but feel uneasy when he saw it.

"I… look forward to it General." Was all Tyrell said before walking away and out of the office through the doors that he had entered through.

After the knight had left, the smile that Ironwood had on his face was removed as if he was wearing a mask. Turing to look at his long time friend, Ironwood spoke. "Are you sure that you don't have any more information on him that you can tell me?

Ozpin took a long sigh as he spun his chair to face his friend with a disappointed look. "James, I am just as concerned of the safety and wellbeing of my school, and my students, just as much as you are. If I had any more information regarding Tyrell, you would be the first person I would tell."

James gave his friend a doubtful look as he walked around Ozpin's office in thought. When he stood underneath the cogs and gears above him, Ironwood faced his friend once more and said, "The Grimm have been acting up lately, the White Fang have been robbing Dust stores like there's no tomorrow, and now a stranger in armor that I have never seen before arrives at the kingdom. What's going on Oz?"

"I'd love to have all the answers James, but I don't. I have my agent looking into both situations as we speak, and as for the Grimm I cannot say." Ozpin replied as he was just as in the dark as his friend was. Ozpin had told James almost everything about Tyrell. From how he was brought from Forever Falls to Vale. How his village was grasped by a famine that forced his leader to send someone to seek help.

What he didn't tell his friend was that of the mysterious black flame in the picture that Qrow had sent to the Headmaster.

James was too fast to send in his troops to destroy anything that he thought posed as a threat to the safety of the four kingdoms. Instead of sending in his scouts to gather intelligence, his friend would rush in to meet the threat head on.

' _Glynda was right, James is less brains and more brawn.'_ Ozpin thought to himself as the corners of his mouth curled up, but James wouldn't see it as the Headmaster took a sip from his mug.

James was his friend for so many years, but Ozpin knew that he couldn't tell James of this information. Not yet at least.

"Well, I'll need to have a chat with the Sentinel soon." James said more to himself than Ozpin.

"Do you plan to interrogate him James? Remember that he is one of my staff members, and is under my protection as long as his stays as one." Ozpin warned his friend as James gave him a hard look.

"Oz, how do you think that this man's… lord is going to react when he finds out that they won't be getting any help? They could try to attack Vale, or any of the other kingdoms for that matter. If neither of us has seen that armor before then who knows what kind of weaponry they possess." James said as he began to pace around the room again.

"I don't believe that will happen James. If what Tyrell tells us is the truth, then his village wouldn't even be able to make such an attack. They would have to fight through miles of Grimm, and with their supplies already running low I don't think they would make it to Vale." Ozpin assured his friend, and it worked as James seemed to relax as his face softened somewhat.

James then said, "And if he is lying to us Ozpin? Hell, his lord may have an entire kingdom under his rule, not a small village. Then you'll have an army of gods know how many troops knocking at your door." Taking a sigh James continued. "All I'm saying is to be more cautious around this man Oz. If his people do declare war on Vale, do you believe that your children can win?"

Ozpin's smile had long since disappeared as he looked at his friend with a certain emotion that James couldn't quite say what it was.

"I hope they never have to." Was all Ozpin said.

…

The Ashen Lord walked out onto the outer balcony that was located behind the throne room. He looked out over his kingdom and all the movement that was occurring far below.

Knights, his loyal Ashen Knights, were all at work preparing for the coming movement to where Tyrell had been sent.

Remnant.

Men and women were working day and night as they packed away various resources ranging from weapons, armor, and most importantly food.

Abell looked up at the light grey sky, how clouds roamed lazily over the land with the wind to carry them. Small streaks of moonlight broke through the thick blanket of clouds, but they barely lit up the land.

When he returned his attention back towards his kingdom, a tiny voice sounded in the back of his head.

' _You know that you have failed them.'_ The voice said. Abell clutched his head as if he had a bad headache, the voice continued.

' _Even with the power of the Dark Soul, you know that you have not the power to bring all of them with you to the new world.'_ It said.

"Silence." Abell hissed at the disembodied voice while trying to will it away with his mind, but to no affect as it continued regardless.

' _You will have to leave some of your "loyal knights" if your kingdom is to survive.'_ It mocked.

"I said to be silent!" Abell raised his voice, and it raised its own as well.

' _YOU KNOW THAT YOU CANNOT KEEP A PORTAL OF THAT SIZE UP LONG ENOUGH FOR YOUR ENTIRE KINGDOM TO MAKE IT THROUGH!'_ It screamed at him from within his mind, and had caused the Ashen Lord to clutch his head harder as his headache worsened.

' _It is because you are too weak.'_ It spat at him as it had lowered its voice to Abell's relief, but he still grasped his head in pain.

"No…No! I will hold the portal open for as long as it is required!" He had shouted at no one but himself. When the voice did not respond Abell had turned away from the railing of the balcony and walked back into his throne room.

Taking a seat upon his throne, Abell felt extremely tired from the day's events. From helping organize resources to figuring out who he would send to aid the Witch.

And now the voice had made audience with him, again.

After he had inherited the Dark Soul from Manus, Father of Humanity, the voice had come along shortly afterwards.

It only spoke to him when he felt moments of peace, or when he was alone, ceasing all talk whenever someone would enter the same room as him.

A moment after he had sat down on his throne, a knocking came at the doors on the far side of the room.

"Come." Was all Abell said as he brought up a hand to rest his head against. It was Aulnor.

"What is it Aulnor?" Abell said in a tired voice as the Silver Demon walked into the room, but he was not alone. Five figures in black cloaks followed the second Knight of Omen into the room with each carrying a strange chime of sorts. Two of them were nothing special that caught the Ashen Lord's eye, but the other three were somewhat unique.

One was very tall and broad as if he were half-giant. The second one was two heads shorter than the half-giant, and was very slim, but what caught Abell's eye was that the right arm sleeve was flat up against their body since no arm was there to fill it.

The third cloaked figure did not even walk in at all, but was actually strapped onto the back of the half-giant. The robes that covered his legs hung loosely as the half-giant walked.

Aulnor had walked up and stood to the left of Abell and waited silently as the five figures had arranged themselves in a horizontal line.

"What business do you have with your Lord?" Abell growled, but immediately felt guilt for his attitude as he quickly added, "Please forgive me. These times have been troubling for me as well as the kingdom."

The half-giant took a step forward, but instead of speaking to Abell, he turned around so that the figure on his back could see him.

That was when the figure removed his black hood to reveal two brown eyes that Abell soon recognized.

Grandahl, the Darkdiver.

"Hello my Lord." Grandahl greeted with a smile upon his face.

Abell raised a confused brow at the sudden appearance of the man and how he had escaped the old New Londo ruins. "Grandahl. How is it that you escaped New Londo?" Abell questioned as the smile on the man's face didn't falter.

"Shortly after you had left me my Lord, I had felt a powerful presence appear into our time. I knew that you had found the Dark Soul as soon as I felt its power enter our time period." The aged man said.

"Then how did you escape then Grandahl?" Abell asked again as he started to become suspicious of the Darkdiver.

"That does not matter now my Lord. What does however is the news that I have to bring you and how my disciples and I will help you in the coming movement." Grandahl said waving away the question with his hand.

Abell would leave the matter for how he had escaped New Londo for later, but for now he would hear what the Darkdiver had to say. "Go ahead Grandahl."

"Thank you my Lord." The older man then cleared his throat before beginning. "When I felt the Dark Soul enter our time, I knew that the era of hexes would be upon us my Lord. What you already understand my Lord is that hexes are the combination of both miracles and sorcery."

"But what you might not have known is that all hexes bear a very small piece of the Dark Soul within them." Grandahl said as a small smile came to his face.

"How so Grandahl?" Abell asked, now becoming interested in the art of hexes.

"Every human afflicted with the Curse of the Undead bore a piece of the Dark Soul within them, even if they had hollowed. Those pieces, as every previous Undead already know, was called Humanity." Taking a short breath the Darkdiver continued. "When one would us miracles or sorcery, they would not tap into their piece of the Dark Soul to unleash their magic's full potential."

"However, when one combines their faith and intelligence they can access their inner piece of the Dark Soul. Allowing them to use hexes, which, are much more powerful than any normal miracle or sorcery. Each hex cast takes away from that small piece of the Dark Soul which allows it to manifest itself into our world." Grandahl finished.

"Would that not constantly take away from the Humanity sprite until there is nothing left?" Abell asked as he lifted his head off of his supporting hand.

"If one used too many hexes then yes, but they are so powerful that most foes cannot survive many hits from hexes. With time, the piece of the Dark Soul would reform itself until it is the same as it was when it was first split from the original." The Darkdiver said.

Abell was happy to know this, but how would that help with the movement? Voicing his question Abell asked, "How will this help with the movement with the kingdom Grandahl?"

The Darkdiver smiled even further as he made a motion with his hands that made the three other robed figures walk up next to the half-giant, again forming a horizontal line.

"Allow me to show you my Lord." The Darkdiver said as all five of the black robed figures brought out their chimes.

* * *

 **Well another chapter done. I decided that this one was a good time to introduce Ironwood and Adam into the story, and both will have parts to play. I really enjoyed writing that scene with Blake and Tyrell with showing a bit more about Tyrell's relationship with the other Knights of Omen, and even the Ashen Knights a bit.**

 **To be honest, the scene with Ironwood I had to go back a rewrite multiple times, because the first time I wrote it I had Ironwood way too friendly with Tyrell and it just felt weird when I read it.**

 **Overall, I think that this chapter came out pretty well and I'm glad that you have all been waiting patiently for this story to update. Next chapter we'll see who Abell decides to send to aid Cinder in her stealth mission during the dance. I'll talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Not gonna say too much here. I want to send a big shout out (and thank you) to roosterteethfanatic for deciding to add my story to their "Best of RWBY Fanfiction" community. Welp, I'll talk to you all more at the end of the chapter.**

 **Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Fires Far: IV**_

Hundreds of thousands- no, millions of Ashen Knights filled the multitude of areas throughout all of Lordran, ranging from the ancient Darkroot Garden to the fiery depths of the Demon Ruins.

In each area where the Ashen Knights gathered, one of Grandahl's followers stood with their chime raised. Each casting a dark orb above their head, soon each had raised high up into the air. The orbs rapidly grew before only stopping once they had reached the size of a fully grown dragon. Then, a vertical tare ripped down each orb before widening somewhat to form a giant Humanity sprite.

To some it might have looked like a giant floating dragons' eye.

Tens of thousands of the knights filled both all of Anor Londo and the Ashen Lord's castle. Each and every one of them carried a Black Knight's shield and sword as they all stood still and silent as they waited for their Lord to speak.

Abell stood outside at the outermost balcony that was behind his throne room, with both Aulnor and Alonne standing slightly behind him, one on either side. The sky remained grey as the wind carried the clouds.

Besides the wind, there was not one sound made throughout the entire city. Even the crows had ceased their cries as they too waited for him to speak.

Grandahl, sitting in his wheelchair behind Abell, raised his chime high into the air and muttered an incantation that Abell didn't understand. A small dark orb formed above the older man's head, but soon began to rise and grow in size as it ascended high above the castle's highest tower.

Once the "eye" had formed, Grandahl said with a worn out voice, "My Lord, you may now begin your speech anytime you wish to. Just speak into the Dark Soul and your voice will be heard throughout all the land."

Grandahl had lowered his chime and slowly wheeled himself further away to allow his Lord space.

Abell walked forward a few steps until he was at the guard railing of the balcony. Placing each hand onto the railing, Abell looked out towards his kingdom.

He was met with the countless helms of the men and women who would follow him to hell and back without question. Taking both hands off the railing, Abell raised his right hand.

The soul soon manifested itself into his palm and continued to burn on like a fire without him feeling any of the pain.

Taking a deep breath, Abell spoke into the Dark Soul.

"My brother and sister Undead…"

…

It was time for breakfast at Beacon, and Tyrell was currently sitting with his friends as they all were enjoying their meals.

They were all indulging themselves in conversations that involved various topics that even Tyrell found himself listening to/adding his own thoughts. He was in a particularly joyous mood today when he had been spared from the nightmares that have been plaguing his mind for the past few days. He had finally gotten himself a peaceful sleep and felt well rested.

During the middle of a conversation between Yang and Blake about the upcoming dance, Nora asked Tyrell something.

"So what are you going to wear?" Nora piped up, energetic as always, as she looked at Tyrell while shoving pancakes into her mouth. A few eyes were drawn to the new professor as Nora patiently waited for his answer.

The Sentinel gave the bubbly girl a confused look as he took a bite out of his hash browns.

"Wear?" He asked, still with a full mouth.

Nora giggled a little as she answered, "To the dance ya big knucklehead."

Tyrell, in all honesty, hadn't even really thought about the dance after his talk with Ozpin and meeting the general. In fact, he couldn't recall if he had ever been to a dance before the curse had claimed him and his memories.

Swallowing his food and the Sentinel answered unsure, "Would this suffice as proper attire to the dance?"

After saying this, Tyrell motioned his hand towards himself to indicate that he meant his armor. Silence fell upon the table as the others conversations ceased and everyone was now looking at him, all giving him an odd look.

Suddenly, laughter burst out around the whole table. Even Ren and Blake began chuckling at the thought of Tyrell dancing in his full combat gear.

Nora began to slam her fist onto the wooden table repeatedly as she continued to laugh.

"Y-you can't be serious." Yang managed to choke out in-between breaths of air once everyone had started to calm down. "Are you?" She asked with only a half-smile on her face as Tyrell sent her a small glare as the laughter had died down.

"I think he might be." Jaune whispered to Pyrrha and she nodded slightly to show him that she agreed. Tyrell looked at the two and they both quickly faced opposite directions to avoid his stare.

"Well… I didn't exactly bring a large selection of clothing for myself when I made my trip. The only cloths that I brought are the ones that you see now and a light brown leather tunic and pants." Tyrell said as he now felt somewhat, not all that much though, embarrassed at his lack of distinct clothing. "Between the two, my armor is the most flattering."

It was a joke that got some of the others to laugh a little and a smile found its way onto his lips as he then looked at them all and asked, "What do any of you propose I do then?"

"You could always go shopping for new cloths." Weiss offered as the rest of the girls nodded in agreement.

"Shopping?" Tyrell said with a raised brow.

"You know, when you go out to the mall to buy all types of things." Ruby said with glee. A look of realization struck her as she quickly added, "Oh I know! After classes today, we can all head out to Vale and shop!" Her voice pitched a little higher when she said the word 'shop.'

"Yeah, and while we're there we can show you more of Vale." Yang added in agreement.

"It's not a bad idea." Blake said with a small smile towards her team and their friends.

Slamming her hand down on top of the table yet again, Nora pointed her finger at the Sentinel and said, "Then it's settled. We'll all go to Vale tonight, and hopefully get into a giant fight with a robot like RW-" Nora was abruptly cut off as Pyrrha covered the girl's mouth with a hand.

"We'll all meet at the air docks before dinner then?" Pyrrha asked in confirmation as she got nods from the others. "Tonight then." She added as she removed her hand from Nora's mouth.

Tyrell didn't know what a "robot" was, but he didn't question it as he wished to finish his breakfast, but not before seeing the looks of pure dread from the other two males at the table.

…

Tyrell was surprised at how fast the day had gone by as the last class just ended with the ring of the bell.

Tyrell was happy that he hadn't had to participate in any combat exercises for Glynda's last class, but instead just helping her grade papers instead. He wanted to have as much energy as possible if the looks that both Jaune and Ren had at the mention of shopping were anything to go off of.

He just needed to help Glynda finish grading the rest of these papers and then he would head over towards the air docks. It was rather silent between the two as a few minutes passed by without a single word muttered.

Deciding to strike up a conversation, Tyrell said, "Many of your students seem to be improving with both their combat and tactical skills."

"Indeed." Was all Glynda said as she continued grading papers.

"Yes well… they should all become fine warriors one day." Tyrell was trying, but the woman seemed to refuse to meet him halfway. Thinking of something else to talk about, Tyrell said, "Would you care to tell me more about the dance occurring tomorrow night?"

"It is a dance, were people break out into various movements to the rhythm of various music. Sometimes with a partner, with a group of people, or… alone." Glynda explained bluntly, but Tyrell had picked up how she had paused at the end.

"I would imagine that at a dance, one would in fact… dance." Tyrell tried to laugh but it had come out weak as Glynda looked at him for a small moment before returning to grading papers.

Taking a small sigh Tyrell tried again, "Where I came from, we didn't have dances." This had slowed Glynda's pen down a bit in the midst of grading. Soon the pen had come to a stop as Glynda had ceased grading the paper that she had. Now giving all her attention to the knight.

"You've never been to a dance before?" The question came out before Glynda could stop it, but it was too late as Tyrell let out a small, hollow laugh.

"I'm afraid so. We were always fighting to survive to the next day that we never had time to relax and enjoy the things that life had to offer. It was always battle, death, and bloodshed, but never the peace that we needed to live under our certain _circumstances_. So no, I have yet to go to a dance." Tyrell said with more spite than he meant to as his heart started to feel heavy.

His tone didn't affect her thankfully as she said, "I'm sorry that you and your people had to live under such harsh conditions." A small twinge of pity had formed in her eyes that Tyrell couldn't help but feel somewhat disgusted at. But he wouldn't say anything or make anything of it.

' _I can't take my anger out on her, or anyone of this world. They don't deserve it; they didn't have to live through life as one of the many branded Undead. They know nothing and that is for the best.'_ Tyrell thought as he quickly apologized for his tone towards her just now.

"Think nothing of it. I cannot begin to understand what it is like to live in a village, let alone one so far away." Glynda dismissed as a silence gripped the two yet again.

Soon the silence was broken as Glynda asked in a slight whisper, "Can I trust you to keep a secret?"

Tyrell was caught off guard at the question, but recovered quickly and said, "On my oath as a knight, I will keep any secret you wish to bestow upon me." He said it a little dramatically, but that was intended as a small smile graced her lips.

She leaned in closer and in doing so, Tyrell did as well. She whispered in such a low voice that he strained to hear her as she whispered, "I've never danced a day in my life."

One might have been caught off guard at this news, especially him considering those that were once afflicted with the curse had most likely never danced before, but for some reason Tyrell felt better at hearing this tiny bit of news.

Both leaned back into their chairs as a smile now appeared on Tyrell's face.

"I trust that I can trust you with that particular piece of information, Tyrell." Glynda said as it was her first time just calling him by his name, dropping the 'Sir'. She still held her small smile as she said it as well.

Tyrell's smile widened more as he said, "Have no fear, Ms. Goodwitch. Your secret is safe with me." He assured as he made the gesture to 'lock his lips' and threw away the imaginary key.

Checking the time, Tyrell bid his farewells to Glynda before getting ready to leave. But before he could go Glynda said, "Two things before you go Tyrell." Once the knight had given her his full attention she continued, "First, only during classes are you to call me Ms. Goodwitch. Any other time you may address me by my name, and I will in turn do the same."

She paused for a few moments, a look of thought appearing over her features. Not wanting to be late to the air docks, but also not wanting to leave before Glynda finished, he said, "And the second?"

Glynda avoided his eyes and a tad bit of pink entered her cheeks as she hesitantly said, "If you wish to do so… then tomorrow during lunch would you like to come to my classroom and we could both practice dancing together?"

This had definitely caught the Sentinel off guard as he just starred at her with a surprised expression on his face.

Smiling and taking a bow he said, "I would be honored, Glynda. I will see you here tomorrow at noon."

With that Tyrell walked out of the room leaving a surprised, but soon relieved, Glynda behind.

…

"I forgot how much I hated riding in one of these metal beasts." Tyrell spat the word as he held onto the bottom-half his chair harder as the Bullhead shook slightly after hitting some minor turbulence.

"Well, at least you're not throwing up your lunch like Vomit boy over there." Yang, sitting across from Tyrell, said with a smirk while gesturing in Jaune's direction. The poor boy was indeed puking his guts out into a bin as Pyrrha rubbed his back in hopes to make him feel better.

Letting out a small chuckle, Tyrell then responded, "I suppose your right Yang."

They had entered the Bullhead a while ago and would soon be reaching Vale. From what the others had told him, and from his first experience there, it is the largest and most populated city in the whole kingdom. Not to mention the most popular as well.

"Have any others from your village ever left to visit any of the kingdoms Tyrell?" Said knight looked to his left to see that it was Ren who had asked the question. The normally stoic boy had a mainly neutral expression on his face, but there was a hint of curiosity as well within his eyes.

The question caused a downcast expression to cross Tyrell's face as he recalled Ozpin's news about the council's decision regarding his 'village' and people.

However, he quickly forced himself to smile as to not worry his friend and honestly answered, "No, none have left the village to venture to the other kingdoms. I am the first, and most likely will be the only one for a long time."

His answer seemed to satisfy the eastern boy as Ren turned away from his professor to address Nora who had been starting to make a racket over something about "selling Ursa skins to a man in a chicken suit."

It unsettled Tyrell at the thought of a fully grown man trying to fit a chicken's body around his own. He shuddered at the thought.

"You okay?" A feminine voice asked as Tyrell recognized it to be Ruby, who was also seated across from him to the right of Yang.

"I am fine Ruby. Thank you for your concern, but something seems to be bothering you." Tyrell inquired as he had noticed that the usually spirited young girl looked rather downcast about something.

She tried waving it off with her hand as if there was a fly in front of her and responded, "No, nothings the matter, it's just…" The rest of her sentence came out as a whisper that Tyrell could not hear in the least. Thus prompting him to ask, "May you repeat that?"

Yang, who had just been in conversation with Blake, draped an arm around her little sister and brought the reaper's head against her right bosom before answering for her. "Rubes is just worried about not getting a date for the dance tomorrow that's all! I mean, if any guy looked at my little sis in a weird way, they would find themselves in the infirmary with their family jewels either crushed, or stolen."

The sweetness in her voice, along with the innocent grin on her face sent a shiver down Tyrell's (along with every other male on the Bullhead) spine. Ruby managed to get herself free from her sister's grip as she quickly stammered out a response.

"Y-yang! That's n-not what I was w-worried about!" Her face grew almost as crimson in color as her hood, but Tyrell made no comment on it.

Getting over the strange chill from Yang's threat to mostly any male, Tyrell then asked, "Then what has you so worried Ruby?"

Almost everyone's eyes, bar Jaune's, were upon the crimson hooded girl as she turned even a darker shade of red from all the sudden attention on her. "W-well… I-" She didn't finish however as the Bullhead shuddered and fell silent again as a disembodied voice said, "Destination reached. Welcome to the City of Vale."

…

Either the Sentinel hadn't noticed before, or the decorations were recently added, as Tyrell and his friends walked throughout Vale. Multicolored decorations lined the streets and large signs that read "WELCOME TO VALE!" were posted all around.

"All of these decorations and signs welcoming visitors, what's the occasion?" Tyrell asked as they walked past a store selling different cakes and pastries.

Weiss took it upon herself to answer as she proudly stated, "The Vytal Festival of course!"

"Here we go again." Yang mumbled to her partner, along with a roll of her eyes.

"What does this festival include?" Tyrell asked as he was still in confusion, but curious as well. This time Weiss turned herself to face him with a raised brow and a look of confusion. Tyrell only shrugged his shoulders in response which caused the heiress to face away from him and continue walking.

Recalling where her new professor was from, Weiss sighed and explained. "Well, seeing as you are from _far_ outside the kingdom, I guess you wouldn't know what the festival is. The Vytal Festival is an international event of Remnant held every two years. When the time draws closer for the festival to take place, one of the kingdoms is chosen to open their borders to the rest of the world."

"This allows citizens from every corner of Remnant to come visit the hosting kingdom so they can indulge in one another's cultures. It takes up a considerable amount of planning and organization to set up." Weiss finished her explanation just as they were nearing their destination, a rather large building with types of clothes that the Sentinel had never seen before on display.

"It's also the time where students from all over get to duke it out in the tournament!" Yang said with excitement edged into her voice.

"Oh? And I take it that all of you will be competing this year I presume?" Tyrell said with a small chuckle as Yang flashed him a quick _'You know it'_ type of grin.

"It's going to be so awesome! Team JNPR will get to show the world what we're really made of! Oh, and the best part, we get to break our opponents legs!" Nora squealed at the last line, a somewhat sadistic smile plastered across her face, and began to bounce with excitement.

"Nora, I think that may be against the rules." Ren said while placing a hand on the bouncing girl's shoulder to calm her down which she immediately did.

This time Pyrrha spoke up and said, "Ren's right Nora. We can't exactly go into the tournament and begin breaking bones… on purpose at least." Tyrell began to really wonder how much fighting potential these students possessed if they could break limbs even through Aura.

Jaune looked like he was about to throw up again, so Tyrell placed a hand on the boy's shoulder as a sign of comfort as he said, "I'm… sure it's not that bad."

However, Nora and Yang spoke up in union as they both said at the same time, "Oh, it's bad." Tyrell looked at the two heavy hitters of each team with a small glare before saying, "Not helpful."

"Well here we are." Ruby announced as they all walked into the clothing store. Tyrell was taken aback at the almost endless expanse of clothing that seemed to cover the entire store.

"By the old lords." Tyrell muttered in astonishment as he tried to wrap his head around the ridiculous amount of clothing that layed before him. "How much clothing does one building need?!" They all looked at him as if he had grown a second head; well the girls did whereas both Ren and Jaune nodded their heads slightly to agree with him.

After a few moments of uneasy silence Weiss cleared her throat before saying, "Well… shall we get started?" Shaking his head to clear his mind, Tyrell put on a confident smile to show that he was ready to begin. He had faced far greater obstacles when he was an Undead, and he was ready to face this one head on.

Ren and Jaune prayed for the poor knight, for he did not know what hell he was about to enter.

…

"I'd say that went rather well." Pyrrha chirped up as the group took their leave from the clothing store, and were on their way back to the Bullhead that would take them all back to Beacon.

"Yeah, it was fun to get out and get some shopping done." Ruby said as the holographic street lamps began to activate as the sun had set for yet another day in Vale and the shattered moon began to rise.

"I agree, but we were there for a little longer than we should have." Blake brought up as she looked up at the starry night sky up above. "That was loads of fun! We need to do that again soon! Wouldn't you agree Ty?" Nora had asked while facing herself backwards to look at the knight while she continued to walk.

' _So much…'_ The knight thought. He had a deadpan expression on his face. Remnant seemed to have its own nightmares that were not all shaped in the form of the Grimm it appeared.

"Uhh… Ty?" Nora said with a raised brow. He didn't even change his expression when the pink girl began prodding his face with her index finger. She only stopped when Ren had come to his aid by gently grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand away from their teacher.

"Leave him alone for tonight Nora, please?" Ren said in a tired, but gentle, tone before thinking, _'I believe that the man has suffered enough for one night.'_

' _So much… too much…'_ His thoughts continued.

Tyrell alone was carrying more than ten bags full of clothes, five hanging off each arm, which the girls had handpicked during their ' _small_ shopping spree.' A chill went down his spine as he shuddered to think what might have awaited him if they had more time.

They were almost to the Bullheads when Yang had an idea. "Hey guys, why don't we have some more fun before we head back to Beacon?" Everyone stopped walking as they all waited for what Yang exactly meant by 'fun.'

"Your definition of fun is much different from our own I'm sure." Weiss said with skepticism lacing her voice. "Besides, it's starting to get late and we have homework that needs to be completed."

"Getting late?" Yang repeated, "The nights just getting started! Come on guys, don't tell me that your all gonna leave."

"Sorry Yang, but Weiss is right." Blake gave her partner an apologetic look as the brawler sent Blake her imitation of one of Ruby's puppy dog eyes. It had no effect.

"I agree with both of you. We should all head back to Beacon so we can get a well deserved rest for tomorrow." Pyrrha added in her two cents. "And you should as well Jaune." The blonde knight tried his own version of Ruby's puppy dog eyes on his partner, but they couldn't breach the steel mask that Pyrrha had put up against such tactics.

Sighing in defeat, Jaune begrudgingly said, "Fine. We'll talk to you guys later then." With that the group leaving for Beacon departed.

In the end only Yang, Ruby (cause she wanted to hang out with Yang), Nora (since she had nothing better to do and wanted to have fun), Ren (because he had to keep an eye on Nora so she wouldn't get into trouble), and Tyrell decided to stick around in Vale for a little longer.

"So what did you have in mind Yang?" Ruby asked her older sister about what she had planned for them to do.

"Well, an old friend of mine runs a club in the shadier side of downtown Vale. He'll let us in without any problems." Yang finished by cracking her knuckles and a grin on her face.

…

"Why aren't you letting us in without any problems?!" Yang demanded of Junior. Normally Junior stayed inside, but he knew better than to induce the wrath of the "Little Light Dragon" of Beacon. So he decided to come outside his establishment to prevent, or at least reduce, the amount of damages that she might (will) cause.

"Look Blondie, you and your friends are okay to come in," _'Only because I don't want bodily harm to come across myself, the twins, or my men- actually just me and the twins.'_ "It's your silver armored clad friend here that isn't allowed in." Junior said as he pointed in Tyrell's direction.

The knight could hear some strange muffled noises coming from behind the two large doors that the man, known as Junior apparently, was standing in front of to prevent them access.

"Why though?" This time Ruby asked. Junior looked at her for a brief moment before turning his attention back onto Yang. Tyrell too was curious as to why he was not being permitted entrance to this man's 'club.'

"Look, I can't tell you the reason-" Junior didn't finish as Yang interrupted him by saying, "One."

"One?" Junior asked and just then Yang said, "Two." This time Junior looked to the rest of them and asked, "Why's she counting?"

"It's how long you have to give her what she wants before she decides to trash your club mister." Ruby answered simply enough as Junior's eyes widened with horror. "You have until three by the way."

"Thr-" Yang had almost finished the last digit when Junior cut her off by raising his hands and shouting, "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you why. Just _please_ don't ruin my establishment… again." The man seemed to be begging somewhat, and it caused Tyrell to wonder what Yang had done exactly to hold this much power over someone much older than herself.

"Good boy. Now let's talk about this inside shall we?" It was more of a command rather than a question, but Yang just decided to walk in without Junior's permission anyways. Tyrell and the others followed after the brawler inside.

After a brief walk they all were now inside Junior's club and the noise that assaulted his ears was almost as torturous as the shopping had been.

A symphony of roars from the Hellkite Drake along with the screams of the ghosts of New Londo would have been much more pleasant to the ear rather than the 'music' (that is if it can even be called that) being played throughout the club. Tyrell had to cover his ears as he considered it too loud compared to how quiet it was just a few moments ago outside.

The design of the club was rather underwhelming as it had a color scheme consisting of only three colors: red, white, and black. Machines on the ceiling were constantly flashing bright white lights in multiple areas. For what purpose they served was above the Sentinel.

Towards the left of the spacious club was the only thing closest to something that he recognized. Jutting up from the floor was a long, smoothed black island with a red countertop running along the wall of the establishment. There was a space spanning the same length of the island where bartenders would normally work. Built into the wall itself were shelves fully stocked with glass bottles containing variously colored wines.

Some of the abandoned buildings in Lordran had a similar design, but more worn down and abandoned long ago.

The man, Junior, was currently leading them to the bar. After they all had taken a seat on rather comfortable stools, Tyrell placed his bags of new clothing on either side of him.

"Talk." Was all Yang had to say to get the man to begin his explanation. The man taking his place on the opposite side of the island and pouring himself a drink.

"What I'm about to tell you all doesn't leave this club. Got it?" Junior said as he got a nod from each of them. Junior knew that spilling the secrets of his clients (old or new) was not a smart move, especially to someone from Beacon, but he'd rather not have to spend the next few months to pay off any damages caused by Blondie.

"Torchwick was in here earlier." Junior started. He could see all the students' eyes grow wide in surprise at the news that "Vale's number one criminal" had came back to Junior's establishment. "I know you kids have been the ones foiling his plans ever since that dock incident appeared on the news a few months back. Like that Atlas Paladin chase down the highway, once I saw it on the news I had a feeling that you were involved somehow."

"We didn't come here to chat about the past Junior." Yang warned, but she also wanted to keep that information on the low, at least from the teachers, since they had started their own mission to stop the Fang and Torchwick. "Now tell us why Roman being here would prevent my friend here from coming in."

"Tell us or I'll break your legs!" Nora shouted as Junior gave her a ' _What?'_ kind oflook.

"Nora, sit." Ren commanded calmly and the bubbly girl listened. Focusing their attention back onto Junior he continued.

"When Torchwick came in earlier, I thought that he either wanted to strike up another deal or he came back to repay me for the men that he lost me." Taking a quick sigh Junior continued, "Obviously, the latter wasn't why he came here."

"So what deal did you two make?" This time Ren asked as Junior sent the boy a small glare, but Junior answered.

"Funny thing was, he didn't. He didn't make any type of deal. Hell he just walked in with a few new faces and ordered a few drinks was all." Junior said.

This seemed to have drawn both Yang's and Ruby's attention as Yang asked, "New faces?"

"Yeah, a girl, short, wore a pink and white jacket with brown pants and grey boots. Her hair was pink, white, and brown and her eyes each had a different colored iris from what I saw. There were two others that _really_ stood out though." The man took a short drink from his shot glass that he recently poured before continuing, all of them listening intently.

Yang immediately recognized that the girl was most likely the same one that had helped Roman escape after they had trashed his Paladin the other night. She kept quiet though to allow Junior to finish.

"The first one was actually rather short, the girl stood at least a head taller than him, but what he was wearing was what caught my attention. The dude looked like he was dressed up as a mummy for Halloween, covering up his entire body in dark bandages, and both his hands _and_ feet had really long claws growing out from them. At first I thought he was a Faunus, but when he got closer I noticed that the claws reflected the light, so I knew they were made of metal."

"The last part about the first guy was the mask he wore. I was surprised that he knew where he was even walking at all. It looked like the top half of a Nevermore's beak was placed on his head!"

"What about the last one? The third member of Roman's party." Yang asked while hiding the curiosity in her voice, but her eyes betrayed her as all of them were curious.

Junior visibly shivered a little as he recalled the last member of Roman's entourage from earlier. "In all honesty, he scarred me far worse than Roman ever did."

"He stood taller than me, at least by a few inches." This came as a shock to a few of them since Junior was a rather tall man and for anyone to be even taller was an intimidating thought. "He wasn't any skin and bones either; it was all muscle it seemed underneath that black armor."

' _Black armor? Is it possible that Abell had chosen an assassin already?'_ Tyrell thought as his Lord did say that he would have the assassin arrive before the rest of them did, and along with an escort as well…

Tyrell was brought out of his thoughts as Junior then said, "He was covered from head to toe in that armor, much like your friend here." Well that explained at least why Junior didn't want to let Tyrell in. Worried that he was related to this black armored man.

"He also carried two things on him, a matching colored shield and a fucking huge sword strapped to his back!" Both Nora's and Yang's eyes briefly flashed at the thought of how strong this guy must be, and it got them excited.

"Funny thing about his armor though were the two spikes that sat on top of his helmet, if he had came closer then I might have called them horns." Junior said.

"Was there anything else that you could describe about this man Junior?" This time Tyrell had asked the question which caused everyone to turn to regard him now.

"Yeah, just one more thing about him." Junior took a small gulp of his wine before continuing. "His visor, or eyes, I don't know exactly. They _glowed_ like a fire…"

That was all Tyrell needed to hear as he stood up and grabbed his bags before saying, "I just remembered that there are a few things that I must prepare for next week's lesson with Doctor Oobleck. You'll have to show me the rest of Vale another night students. I will see you all back at Beacon and a good night to you Junior."

With that said he quickly walked away from the bar and made his way out of the club. He had to contact his Lord and talk to him about a few things regarding the movement and where they stood with Cinder now that they will be arriving.

' _The assassin is here, and so is their escort it seems. The movement starts tomorrow.'_

…

 _ **Earlier in the day…**_

Roman's day had started out pretty good; well as good as it can be while being a fully fledged criminal and working with a terrorist group run by animals.

He had just gotten up from a nap and was about to start his day when Neo, the only partner that he could trust at the time, walked into his office.

A slightly uncomfortable look on her face as she shut the door.

"Neo? What are you doing here now? Weren't you supposed to meet with me tomorrow?" The famed criminal asked of the mute girl.

The only response he got was the small girl pointing outside his office's entrance and a _'We got a situation'_ kind of look on her face.

"What are the animals fighting over now?" Roman complained, but he became more alert when Neo began to look somewhat concerned over whatever was happening. Concerned enough to deserve his attention. "Fine, fine, I'm going."

Taking a cigar out and lighting it, Roman left his office and was being lead by Neo towards their (his) problem. Shouting could be heard as they drew closer to the source and threats of shooting were being called out.

After rounding a 'borrowed' container of SDC Dust, Roman saw a small crowd of White Fang grunts all huddled around someone. The only reason Roman knew that it was a person was that the figure in black armor was pretty freaking hard to miss.

' _Are those horns? Ughh. Another animal that I have to tolerate. Joy.'_ He thought to himself with a disgusted look.

The man stood over each of the gathered grunts by at least a head up, but as Roman got closer the man seemed to just get taller.

"Out of my way." Roman, not so gently, pushed a few of the grunts out of his and Neo's way with the rest parting for them once they saw who it was. Upon closer inspection, he got a better look for the guy.

He was fully armored in what appeared to be some weird, emo demon armor. Markings that Roman's never seen before covered almost every inch of his armor save for the helmet.

A large greatsword was attached to the guy's back and a shield was strapped to his left arm, both matching his armor.

' _At least he has a taste for fashion.'_ Roman thought approvingly as he himself designed and then stole his custom made outfit.

Now that he was standing face to face to the guy, or rather face to chest plate, Roman had to look up at him to see his eyes.

Which were glowing like some sort of dark fire from hell that hid itself within those eyes. The glow illuminated the helmet's visor which only added to his intimidating appearance.

Just from looks alone, Roman could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up a bit. Closing his eyes and taking a huge inhale from his cigar, Roman put on his game face. "As much as I like to see new faces, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." It wasn't the demonic demon voice that Roman had been expecting, but rather slightly higher pitched than an average man and spoken softly.

"Pardon?" Roman asked as he continued to look into the glowing visor of the giant of a man.

"Down here you oblivious idiot." The same voice and this time Roman followed the source to the appearance of a second figure. Standing right next to the man in armor, just barely taller than said man's waist, was who Roman might have mistaken as a kid dressing up for Halloween if they met on the streets.

He mainly wore what looked like dark grey bandages covering his entire body, Roman also spotted a few knives and daggers tucked away beneath one of the bandages. What caught the criminals attention as well were the claws that grew from his hands and feet.

A closer look revealed them to be made out of steel, the same as his helmet which caused Roman to ask, "How many fingers am I holding up?" Holding out his right hand and placing up three fingers, Roman awaited his answer.

Neo made what sounded like a (very) quiet sigh as she just shook her head and gave him one of her _'Really?'_ looks. "What?" Was all he had to say on the matter.

The shorter man said in the same voice, "How many am I holding up?" He proceeded to flip Roman off which caused the criminal to snicker and say, "Looks like we got ourselves a smartass here. Now as I said before, get out." His tone turned serious and that cued the grunts to draw their weapons which only consisted of swords, axes, and a few pistols.

"We have orders from our Lord to talk to a Ms. Fall. Who are you, her water boy?" A few snickers were heard from behind the infamous criminal, but Neo took care of it by simply flashing one of her sadistic grins at the assembled grunts. Silence fell between their ranks and the mute girl focused her attention back onto the two new comers.

"Heh heh, looks like we got ourselves a real jokester here as well." Leaning in close to the squirt, Roman whispered loud enough for the two in front of him and Neo to hear.

"Listen here pint-size, I'm feeling a little generous today so I'll give you and giganto here two choices. You can leave now and head back to whatever hole you two crawled out of, _or_ I can have you both killed right here and now. So what do 'ya say?" Roman put on a mock smile as he waited for them to decide.

He really didn't care which they chose, but unless he heard from Cinder otherwise then he had no reason to let these guys see her.

"What I _say_ is that you either take us to Ms. Fall now, or there will be dire consequences to be paid." The runt said in a serious tone that didn't faze Roman in the least. Although, the fact that he had the nerve to stand up to him did tick Roman off just a tad bit.

"Ooohhh I'm so scarred. Guys do me a favor and kill these two for me? Thanks." With that Roman began to walk away with Neo trailing behind.

After they both had cleared the pack of grunts, the White Fang members began to slowly draw themselves closer towards the two intruders with murderous intent in their eyes.

Taking a long sigh, Alan mumbled to his 'escort', "I guess we'll be fighting our way to Ms. Fall then. Oh the things our Lord has us do." The Old Guard nodded his head once and drew his Black Knight Greatsword in one fluid motion while taking a combat stance. Already eyeing one of the grunts wielding an axe.

"Oh yes, the things we do indeed." Alan said in a slightly sadistic tone as the White Fang grunts saw a red flash on the left side of his helmet through the tiny eye slit that allowed him to see.

He then pulled out his favorite weapon, a jagged blade from one of the ghosts of the New Londo ruins, while setting himself into a low crouch, intent on covering the walls of this building in his enemy's blood.

…

"Thirteen men dead Torchwick! Another nine critically wounded! How do you explain yourself?!" Adam shouted out into the face of the criminal that he was barely able to restrain himself from killing the man on the spot.

Cinder closed her eyes in frustration, growing tired of having to deal with both Adam and Roman.

She had needed to come back to her warehouse to check up on a few things, mainly Roman, and to see if Abell's help had arrived. However, they did not make her plans any easier (yet) by their killing spree happening not even a half-hour ago.

She had gotten here as soon as she could, to really only keep Adam from cutting Roman's head off since she still needed him alive for the upcoming Breach operation.

Alan and his escort stood in front of her inside Roman's office covered in blood, not all of it their own. A few bullet holes covering their bodies, but to Cinder's interest there didn't appear to be a single blade mark on either of them.

Roman sent both a glare as blood continued to drip onto his carpet.

Turning back to regard the _very_ pissed off Faunus in front of him. "How was I supposed to know that they were here for Cinder?" Roman tried to feign innocent, but everyone gathered in the room saw through it like glass.

"I specifically remember telling you that we were sent here by our Lord to aid Ms. Fall in her plans, whatever they may be." Alan brought up which caused both Adam and Cinder to look at the criminal, one with a deadpan expression and the other with killing intent.

Holding both hands up in front of him Roman said, "Fine, fine. So they told me that they were here for you, but how was I to know when you don't exactly fill me in on almost, oh I don't know, _anything_?" Cinder's eyes glowed as her aura flared, not in anger, but a show of warning. Roman grew a little nervous at seeing that stare and tugged at his collar.

"Like I told you before Roman, you'll know what you need when you need to know. Now both of you out." Cinder looked at Roman then at Adam to tell them that she was referring to them. Roman, annoyed with being left in the dark _again_ , and being thrown out of his own office,walked out of the room. Closely followed by Adam who murmured to the criminal, "I'm not through with you yet."

After the door had shut closed Cinder said, "So which of you is going to be helping me tomorrow night?"

"That will be me madam." Alan gave her a slight bow of the head to show who had been speaking. "Alan of Astora. I spent my entire life on honing my skills as a thief and an assassin; I have successfully assassinated six nobles and four high lords before I came into my Lord's service."

"Go on." Was all she said. So far she was not convinced that this runt of a man might provide any use to her for her stealth operation to infiltrate the CCT tomorrow night.

For all she knew, this man could just be spilling lies to her. And if that were the case, then Abell would need to send her a new assassin, because this one would be nothing but ashes under her feet.

"Throughout my travels and serving my Lord, I had also come across a few rare rings that I'm sure you'll find interesting Ms. Fall." She couldn't help but feel that the man was smiling underneath his helmet as he pulled out two small rings from a hidden pocket on his person.

"Rings?" She dared to ask. Even going so far as to raise one of her brows in confusion.

The first ring was mainly silver in color, but the dark emerald gem in the middle of the ring reflected off the light in the room. Covering the emerald gem was a silver dragon wrapping in on itself. "This ring allows oneself to remain completely silent; any sounds emitted by them are as silent as death."

Cinder remained quiet as he demonstrated the ring by placing it on his right index finger, he started to clap his clawed hands together she heard not even the faintest of sounds. Much to her interest.

' _Interesting. But could a Faunus perhaps hear him?'_ she thought to herself as Alan removed the first ring and spoke again.

"That ring is very useful for sneaking up on one's enemies. Now for the other." Alan then showed her a ring that had a gold grip and a sphere of pure white sat atop it.

When Cinder studied it further she saw what looked like actual fog swirling inside the ring. When Alan put it on he basically vanished right before her very eyes, her only form of shock/surprise was a few blinks of her eyes.

When she saw a shift in the air she was just barely able to see Alan's form, but after a minute of looking at him she could make him out. Alan removed the ring and asked, "Do you find my skills useful to serve your agenda?"

Oh yes. With those two rings, and his combative skills as an assassin, Cinder would have no trouble with infiltrating the CCT tower.

It's not that she couldn't complete the task on her own, but it pays to have a little extra insurance in case things take a turn in the wrong direction.

' _A distraction will be nice.'_ She thought.

"You and I will be departing back to Beacon tonight. You will wait where I order you to stay and remain hidden until I call upon you. I will have one of my associates come and retrieve you and put you into position. Understand?" Cinder expected nothing other than a yes, but there was still one complication that she had ignored until now.

"As for your… escort, he shall remain here and answer to Roman. However, he is to listen to my orders and mine alone." She then took her eyes off Alan and placed them onto the towering figure before her.

He had intrigued her far more than the assassin, even after she was shown the rings, and it was not for his weapon or armor. What glowed within his visor was what intrigued her. When she looked into his visor, he looked _back_.

' _Disciplined, alert, loyal, and showing_ no _fear. One bred for chaos and killing.'_ Cinder thought as she looked deeper and deeper into that raging black flame that came from the man's eyes.

As if sensing that this might cause an issue, Alan quickly said, "We serve our Lord, and he has instructed us to follow your orders until the task is done. My escort will remain here until our Lord arrives tomorrow."

"He _will_ remain here until I say otherwise." Cinder challenged.

"Unless our Lord orders him to stay under your command, then I'm afraid that will not be happening. Lucky for you, Ms. Fall, our Lord will be arriving to this location personally to greet you in person." Alan stated with a certain joy that Cinder couldn't quite place.

"Good. Inform him that I will be waiting for him here if you can. I will summon you within a few hours Alan to leave for Beacon. Now leave." With that both Alan and his escort walked out of Roman's office.

On their way through the warehouse they came across the bloodbath that had transpired not too long ago. Severed limbs and mutilated bodies had littered the ground along with a very large pool of crimson blood mixing together giving the floor a new crimson color.

A few White Fang grunts were beginning to clean up the scene when they saw them approaching.

Fear filled the air as both walked through the blood and gore as if everything were fine with the world. The grunts were pale in the face as they rounded a corner of a SDC Dust container where they ran into Roman and his partner Neo.

Alan was somewhat glad to see the black eye that had formed around Roman's left eye, probably courteously of that horned man that had been yelling at Roman.

"Hey you two, I was thinking that we shouldn't let first impressions judge how we'll be working together in the future." Roman said with a (fake) smile on his face.

"Did you _not_ send your men on us to kill us?" Alan asked as Roman shrugged before saying, "First off, their animals, not men. And second, I want to make it up to you two for that little incident. So how about I treat you and 'tall, dark, and scary' here to a nice little tour of Vale huh?"

"I assume that we have nothing better to do at the moment, but I will be departing soon with Ms. Fall for this Beacon. My escort will remain behind and answer to you." Alan informed the criminal who seemed surprised by the news.

The assassin knew that the criminal had an ulterior motive from this 'show of kindness', but Alan and his escort could handle themselves if Roman tried anything during their tour.

"Well now, how about we talk about this after a few drinks. I know a great bar in town." The criminal said as he lead Alan, his escort, and Neo to Junior's club.

…

Murmurs broke out throughout the gather knights in each location, some questioning, others confused, and some even angered.

"All of you calm down." Abell ordered and like that the murmurs died down until it was silent once again in Lordran.

"I call us all Undead since that is what we will always be known as. We are no longer just normal humans anymore, as we were all forever changed by the Darksign. But, do not take this in a sour tone, for we were all made stronger for it in the end, and now we all stand under one banner."

It was then that the giant Humanity sprite widened itself on its left and right sides. Inside the black sprite a white, hollowed out circle appeared in the middle. Small wisps of white fire burned on the ring of the white circle before being swallowed up by the black sprite.

Many of the Undead gathered tensed up upon seeing the Darksign, for it was the bane of their existence that forced them away from their previous lives. Memories of family and friends taken away from whom they had lost to the accursed brand forever.

"I chose the Darksign as our banner to remind us, of who we are now, not who we once were. Some of you may not accept it now, or ever, but we all are a family. A family who takes care of one another and will _die_ for one another if it comes to it. I would place my life down if it meant to save you all if it ever came to that."

Taking a quick breath Abell continued, "The Age of Fire had long since passed, and the Age of Man, _our_ age, was supposed to come afterwards. However, that never came to be when Gwyn, the Sinner, had placed his fears of humanity above all else."

"He was the one who sacrificed himself to his dying flame to prevent our age from coming. He was the one who placed our land into an endless loop of Light and Dark. _He_ was the one who branded all of humanity with the Darksign!" Abell shouted and roars of agreement could be heard from all around.

"If there was one _good_ thing that had come from Gwyn's sin, it was that the Darksign forced us to adapt to our new lives and become stronger. Not only did we all become much more powerful through our very souls, but, we also became stronger as a race as well."

Taking yet another breath, this one deeper, Abell continued, "Our age did come after all in the end, but thanks to the Sinner and his fears, our world had been destined to slowly decay and die. But it is also my fault that I had pushed our world over the edge into oblivion." Murmurs emerged again, but they were only ones of questioning this time.

"With the endless loop of both Light and Dark caused by the Sinner, our world grew more and more fragile over the centuries. It was I who had shattered it in the end. I will make no excuses for myself as I was fooled by the primordial serphant, Darkstalker Kaathe, and his lies and half-truths that I believed throughout my journey. I cannot expect any of your forgiveness, but if it means anything to you all, I am truly sorry for my decisions."

The murmurs had gone silent again, and Abell was about to continue when a multitude of shouts of protest rang out through Lordran.

He was only able to make out a few of the shouts over the roar of the gathered crowd, but from what he could make out he had heard, "Hold your tongue my Lord, for it is not your fault!"

Another, "Only a fool would think they have not done the right thing! Ending the Sinner's loop!"

One stuck out to him, perhaps the only comment that had reached to his heart.

"We are all family; there is no need for apologies or forgiveness!"

Abell was honestly and utterly left speechless at how loyal and devoted each and every one of his knights was to him and their comrades.

After a few minutes had passed and the shouts had died down, Abell took a pleased sigh and said, "What I am about to tell all of you is my plan to save us all from this dying world."

It was as if each individual knight held his or her own breath to keep any noise from escaping as they all listened intensely for their Lord to speak.

"The Dark Soul has shown me many things since I had come into possession of it. This soul holds powers that predate even the primordial serphants if one were to guess. But who would have thought that it could take one to another world."

Abell had to give his knights credit for not bursting out into a storm of questions. "Yes, I have recently sent one of the Knights of Omen, The Sentinel, to a new world. This world is full of life from what the Sentinel had informed me of. It also appears that this world also has its own version of the Light and Dark from his reports."

"The Dark of this world is nothing similar to what any of us have experienced in our Undead life I'm sure. They are known as the creatures of Grimm. From what research that the Sentinel has gathered on these creatures is still little, but useful. The only thing that truly sets these creatures apart from the ones that used to roam throughout Lordran is that these Grimm are soulless."

Still no reaction from the gathered knights, but Abell continued regardless. "Now the Light of this world _will_ come to a surprise to you all as it was for me when the Sentinel reported it to me."

Taking a deep breath before saying, "The Light of this world is… humans." That broke the silence that held the Ashen Knights for so long as they burst into questions, but Abell had shouted, "Silence!"

They grew quite again, but murmurs were being shared between individuals and their neighbors.

"Believe me when I say that I did not believe the Sentinel at first, but when he had shown me proof that I could not refuse, I had no choice." Abell would not tell them of his conversations with Cinder when she had stolen the sprite from Tyrell that night.

"This is the reason why we have been getting prepared to move the entire kingdom over the last week. However, I am not going to force any of you to leave. That is why I have decided to give you all a choice in the matter."

"If you wish to follow me into this new world, then hold out your hand in front of you. Those of you, who wish to stay in Lordran, do not."

There were none who had not held their hand out in front of them as a black Humanity sprite filled the palm of each Ashen Knight throughout all of Lordran.

"I give you all a piece of the Dark Soul as a sign of your bravery and loyalty to your Lord. Now, lift your sprite up into the air and crush it with your hand. That of you with second thoughts, now is the time to back down."

Each individual that Abell could see had raised their hand carrying the Humanity sprite into the air. For a moment, no one had crushed their sprite, and it had looked like the black and white flames could burn all of Anor Londo, but soon one of the sprites had gone out.

Crushed by the hand of its owner. Soon two more had followed, and then ten more, soon each and every individual sprite had gone out until none remained.

"Tomorrow, my Knights of Ash, we march to Remnant. To light the fires far."

" **To light the fires far!** " His knights, unified, shouted back. Abell couldn't help but smile as he turned around and walked back into his throne room with Alonne, Aulnor, and Grandahl trailing behind.

However, a new surprise had popped into his mind as a second voice spoke in his mind. This one different from the other.

' _You… you damned them. You've damned them all. Why?'_ Is sounded like it was indisbelief. It spoke in a much higher tone than the other, almost childlike. That was when the previous voice decided to speak up, as if the two were having a conversation outside his mind.

' _Because, bodies will be needed for when our Lord arrives.'_

* * *

 **Hey everyone. I kind of left you all high and dry there for a while there didn't I. I'm sorry about that, but school, work, and Fallout have been keeping me busy/distracted.**

 **So I've been watching Volume three, and I have to say that I do like Qrow's weapon, but I will be sticking with the good old Scythe/Rifle since that thing (to me) is cool but a little too OP.**

 **I have to admit a few things here before I shut up until the next chapter though. First, I honestly hated writing that scene with the group going to Vale, but I needed to 1) Make an excuse for Tyrell to go to Vale to get a tux, because Ren already gave his to Jaune lol. 2) Start to get both teams a few new enemies to look out for.**

 **Next, if I were to ever do a rewrite of this story, I would have spaced out the beginning a little bit better. I would have had the dance occur after a few weeks have passed, and build up Tyrell's relationship with both teams during that time. So that's why I decided to have a few timeskips in the future. A heads up, the first one will be happening after the dance, so be ready for that.**

 **One last thing about this chapter (and a rewrite of the story as a whole) I also wasn't too sure how I felt about Glynda asking Tyrell if he would want to practice dancing with her** _ **the day of the freaking dance**_ **(god am I dumb). In the end I left it in there, but like I said before, in a rewrite of the story I would have the timing of events spaced out better and relationships built up slower.**

 **Okay, sorry if this AN turned into a rant, but I had to get that stuff off my chest. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter regardless and I will talk to you all in the next chapter.**


	15. Chapter 15

**First and foremost, thank you all for your continued support of this story AND for getting it into the triple digits! I wasn't really sure if this was ever going to reach one hundred followers let alone succeed that number, but look at it now! Heck we're almost at a hundred and ten!**

 **Now onto the story.**

* * *

 _ **Fires Far: Finale**_

" _Please… stop- Ahh!" A voice cried out from within one of the many alleyways of the Burgs._

 _I turned towards the direction of the cry and sprinted through the bustling crowds of merchants, peddlers, fishermen, and beggars until I reached the alley's entrance._

 _I then saw the source of the cry. A small boy, lying face down on the cobblestone ground as two other boys were kicking him into submission._

" _Hey!" I shouted down the dim alleyway at the two. The boys stopped and starred down the alleyway to look at me. Now that I got a better look at them I noticed that they were older considering their height and bit of muscle that I could make out beginning to form on their arms._

" _Leave him alone." I ordered as I made my way down the alleyway putting on a brave front. The one to the right, a tall, thin fellow, snickered as he turned back to the defenseless boy and raised his foot back to deliver another kick._

" _Beat it shrimp. This has nothing to do with you." The one on the left said. He was just a tad shorter than his comrade, and could stand to lose a few pounds as well._

 _I paused in the alleyway, and the fat one snickered as well and turned back to the young boy. "Now where were we?"_

 _It was at this time that the young boy lifted up his head and seemed to notice me._

 _His dirty blond locks hung over his eyes, so I couldn't see them, but I sure as hell saw the tears that streamed down his face. That was when he whispered something so low that I took a few steps closer just to hear him._

" _P-l-e-a-s-e… help…"_

" _Shut up freak!" The fat one shouted and kicked the boy fight in the face. Crimson blood poured down his face and mixed with his tears. A clean cut split across the left side of his jaw._

 _I took a deep, shuddering breath. Not of fear, but rage._

 _I charged…_

…

Tyrell awoke from yet another peaceful sleep, yet he felt unnerved at the same time.

The nightmares had just gone and vanished over the last two days, not that he was complaining. However it did raise his curiosity as to why they would suddenly stop.

Deciding to think on it later, Tyrell took the liberty to get himself ready for the day. Walking over to his room's closet, Tyrell looked at his newly expanded wardrobe.

' _Now what to wear?'_

After selecting what he thought looked like decent attire and getting dressed, Tyrell looked at himself in the mirror.

He wore a black long sleeved shirt over a white undershirt. Overtop those he wore a long light grey trench coat with the collar flaps up and buttoned up only halfway up. Dark blue jeans clad around his legs with a black belt with a gold buckle holding them up around his waist.

Chocolate brown dress shoes covered his feet while a small brown scarf wrapped itself around his neck, but he tucked most of it away so only the part wrapped behind his head could be seen.

It had been Ruby's idea to buy the scarf, even though it didn't feel that cold out she had said that it was to add to the look like her cloak.

' _I hope this outfit will suffice for the day.'_ He wasn't sure if this outfit would look good or not, and he would much rather be in his armor than this non-protective ware. But he didn't just spend what would most likely cost him his next few payments to not just wear them.

Strapping his sword and sheath to his side and securing his shield onto his back, Tyrell grabbed his Scroll and pouch and headed out to start the day.

…

"Tyrell?" Glynda questioned as she saw the knight enter her classroom after he had knocked, and she was surprised to see his change of appearance.

Sensing the question before Glynda could even utter it Tyrell answered her. "I went out with a few students last night and they introduced me to the art of shopping for clothing at a mall." A small chill ran down his spine at the mention of shopping, but he quickly shook it off.

"With a few students you say?" She sounded confused at his response and he wasn't sure why.

"Is it not considered appropriate for a teacher and their students to get along?"

"Well… no, but I've never heard of a teacher 'hanging out' with his or her students before." Glynda pointed out and Tyrell soon felt space in the room become slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh, well, I will certainly keep that in mind for the future Glynda. But let it be known that companionship is a valued gift to have from my village." Tyrell said while walking around the room to simply pass the time. Then turning to face Glynda again he asked, "What are your thoughts?"

He made a motion with his hand to indicate that he wanted her opinion on his new appearance.

"Well, it's much more appealing to the eye than that flashy armor you've been wearing ever since you got here. That's for sure."

Tyrell placed a hand on his chest and took a step back feeling slightly offended at the remark on his armor.

Upon seeing this Glynda then added, "That was a joke Tyrell."

"Oh." Was all he had to say as he now felt embarrassed at how he had handled Glynda's joking manner. Dusting his coat off for no particular reason, Tyrell coughed into his hand and took a seat; waiting for the first class to arrive.

…

He certainly felt faster with this outfit on rather than his armor, that was for sure as he quickly rolled underneath a side swing from Sky's halberd.

He tried to follow up with an overhead swing of the elongated weapon, but the Sentinel managed to parry the attack.

Remembering that these students had Aura, Tyrell settled for kneeing the boy in his unprotected abdomen instead of using his blade. Not only was it more effective than trying a normal riposte, but it just brought Mr. Lark's Aura down into the yellow.

"Lucky shot." Sky sneered as he took a small breath before jumping backwards to gain some distance from his opponent.

"No luck, only skill Mr. Lark. Now attack!" Tyrell corrected the boy, but it only seemed to bring a look of irritation on his face as he charged towards the Sentinel.

But instead of continuing to rush him, Sky jumped into the air. Once airborne he quickly brought his weapon above his head and let gravity take him, planning to deliver an overhead strike.

Tyrell saw this and braced his arm as the side with the axe head collided with his shield. The impact was increased from the momentum the boy had when coming back down, but Tyrell ignored the dull ache that had now throbbed in his left arm.

Sky was quick to recover from his attack as Tyrell had left his bottom half exposed from raising his shield up to block. Taking advantage of this, Sky tried to swept kick Tyrell off of his feet, but only succeeded in causing the knight to temporarily lose his balance.

Tyrell barely had time to block the thrusting attack aimed for his chest, but still being slightly off balance, caused him to trip on himself and fall down.

Just as Sky was about to win the match, Tyrell, raising his sword faster than he normally could, placed the tip of his blade at Sky's Adam's apple.

The boy froze in place as he felt the cool tip of his teacher's blade resting on his neck. His Aura was protecting him enough that blood couldn't be drawn, but if his teacher applied more pressure than he was a goner.

"Do you yield Mr. Lark?" Tyrell asked in a casual manner, just keeping enough pressure to not harm the boy, but enough to keep him from trying to counter attack.

Begrudgingly, Sky dropped his weapon and sighed in frustration. "I _yield_ sir. Now would you kindly remove your sword away from my neck?"

It was more of a demand than a question, but Tyrell complied, never having any intentions of harming his student. A small bell had rung, signaling that the match had ended and both combatants could exit the stage arena.

Just before Sky had left for the locker rooms, Tyrell called out.

"I will say that you certainly almost had me there Mr. Lark. An excellent performance, but a word to the wise though; your weapon is much more effective at a longer range. Utilize this to keep your opponents off of you instead of getting up closer to them."

"Gee, like I didn't know that already. Thanks teach!" The sarcasm in his voice was hard to miss, but Tyrell shrugged it away as he understood that he was most likely unhappy with the outcome of the match.

"By the way Mr. Lark, how is your back doing?" This seemed to have caught Sky off guard as no one, not even his team (all too angry with the outcome), had asked him if he was okay after Nikos almost broke his spine in their four vs. one match.

Looking back at his teacher with a confused look on his face, Sky answered in an uncomfortable tone. Not used to someone actually caring how he was. "Um f-fine I guess. Thanks for asking?"

Tyrell was surprised at how unsure and uncomfortable the boy sounded. He would have to clarify a few questions later with Glynda during lunch, but that would come later. "Think nothing of it Mr. Lark."

When Sky had went back up to sit with his team, Dove leaned over and asked, "What was that all about between you and the professor Sky?"

"I… really don't know man. He asked me about my back and if it was feeling better. He actually sounded concerned."

Dove then snickered at the thought then said, "Don't be ridiculous Sky. Since when has anyone here actually cared about team CRDL?"

"Yeah, I guess your right man." But Sky couldn't help but feel a little bit of warmth in his chest after knowing that someone out there actually cared about his well being.

…

"Shall we begin Glynda?" Tyrell said as he extended his hand out to the nervous combat instructor.

The normally unsocial blonde reached her hand towards the knight who waited patiently with his hand ready to receive her own. She didn't know why she was feeling so nervous about this.

It wasn't that she held any special feelings for Tyrell, that she was assure of, but then why? Was it because that this was her first time doing something like this? Why had she offered to practice with him when she didn't know how to dance herself? Was it because-

"Umm… Glynda?"

She was brought out of her own thoughts to see that she had yet to take his hand. Her own only extended halfway to meet his and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

Bringing her hand back to her side quickly she said, "Oh! I'm sorry about that Tyrell."

"If you do not wish to do this Glynda, do not hesitate to tell me. I would not mind if you don't feel comfortable in performing this practice." The knight tried to tell her, but a stern mask that she usually wore when addressing her students covered her features.

"No." She said in a stone manner. "I just… was thinking of a few things was all." She didn't meet his eyes for a second, but when she did he could some fire in her eyes that wasn't there a moment ago. It looked like determination.

The Sentinel smiled as he recognized the fire and held out his hand out once more to his superior. Taking a slightly more than necessary dramatic bow he asked, "May we begin milady?"

"Certainly sir." Tyrell smiled as he took her hand in his.

After almost an hour had passed by both teachers were feeling a little worn. It was filled mostly with stepped on toes, misdirection, and a lot of frustration, but both teachers had successfully learned the basics of dancing in the end.

Glynda had lead the whole time, since she was the most experienced (not by much though) between the pair. It turned out that she had researched a tutorial of sorts on dancing the previous night in preparation.

He was still trying to wrap his head around a few of the more advanced movements to dancing.

Both had taken a drink from two of the many bottles of water that Glynda had stored just in case a student became dehydrated or had what she called 'Aura depletion.'

A question had been burning in his mind since before they began, but he remained silent as to allow both to concentrate on the constant movements.

"Glynda, may I ask you a question?" He asked.

"Of course, what is it Tyrell?"

"The previous evening you had offered me to partake in this practice of dance. Why, if I may ask?" He felt genuinely curious as the woman might have started to warm up to him.

Glynda was a little taken off guard by his question, but she didn't show any sign of it with her stone mask in place. Answering she said, "I cannot really give you a solid answer Tyrell. For me, I don't really know." That was her honest answer, but now he got her really thinking about it.

Looking him in the eye she said, "Maybe out of all the staff here at Beacon, you're the first that I feel that I can connect with."

"Connect with? What about Peter or Oobleck? Surely Ozpin, no?" The Sentinel was confused, but felt happy that she was opening up more to him.

"While I consider them friends, both Peter and Oobleck have always been too different in too many ways to make any real meaningful bonds with. As for Ozpin… he and I have a long history with one another."

Deciding to take a seat at one of the long desks Tyrell pondered before asking, "So you two are together I presume?"

He had to duck as several pens and pencils were sent flying his way like throwing knives from an expert thief. When he thought that it was safe to emerge he saw that Glynda had a small amount of crimson covering her cheeks.

"No we are _not_ together!" Taking a deep breath, but not losing her 'angry' face she continued, "We were on the same team when we ourselves were attending Beacon. James was also on that team, and like most teams after graduation, ours split apart." Her anger melted away as she explained, but it was soon replaced by one of a downcast expression.

"James went off to join Atlas's military while Ozpin and I continued our careers as Hunters. A few years later we returned to Beacon once the Council had appointed Ozpin as the new Headmaster. With nowhere else to go really I followed him and became Beacon's new combat instructor."

Tyrell waited silently to see if she would continue, but once she had stopped he then asked, "So why did you ask me and not him instead?"

"Ozpin has far more important tasks at hand than teaching me how to dance." There was no resentment in her voice, and she even seemed to laugh at the thought. "I asked you, because ever since you came here to Beacon you have shown not only the staff kindness, but the students as well."

The stone mask had returned as she took a small sigh before continuing. "I will be honest with you Tyrell; I still do not trust you. But that doesn't mean that I would not try. That was why when you told me yesterday that you have never danced before; I thought that it would be a good opportunity to start to try and build that trust."

Silence fell between the two teachers, and Tyrell felt both hurt and happy at the same time. "I understand, and you are right Glynda. You have no reason to trust me at all." Taking a moment to think about what he would say next, he continued. "There are secrets that I do not wish to reveal to you, Ozpin, or Beacon as a whole."

She showed no expression and said nothing, and he continued, "I have a past that I fear to talk about, and I don't know if I ever will get over that fear. Who knows? Maybe my time here a Beacon will help me to conquer my fear. Perhaps time will tell…"

Turning his head to check his Scroll he saw that it was almost time to get ready to help Doctor Oobleck. Rising up from his seated position Tyrell said, "I must be heading to Oobleck's now Glynda." Taking a quick bow he then said, "Thank you for the lessons on dancing. Will you hold a dance for me tonight?"

The stone mask had cracked a tad as the corners of her mouth tilted up just a bit. "If it saves me from having to dance with James, then yes."

Walking out of her classroom with a tiny smile of his own, Tyrell felt that bridge of trust was finally starting to build between them.

…

He was on his way back to his dorm room when he came across a scene that caused him to pause.

Standing in front of team RWBY's dorm room was Jaune, holding an instrument of sorts in his arms. He was singing to a not so pleased (or impressed) Weiss, as she stood inside the doorframe waiting for his song to end.

His singing was not pleasant to the ear, but the Sentinel found it rather too amusing to try and intervene at the moment.

"~Weiss Schnee! Will you accompany me? To the daaannccee…~" He seemingly forgot his own lines for the song, but just as quickly recalled it as he finished the short lyric. "Tonight~?"

As Tyrell watched from afar, he couldn't help but chuckle a little to himself at the tactics of the young Arc as he tried to woo the heiress.

After a moment of silence Weiss asked, "Are you done?"

"Yes?" He sounded unsure of himself as he answered.

"No." And with that the Schnee girl closed the door in the poor Arc's face. Jaune's shoulders drooped downwards at being rejected yet again by Weiss. Seeing enough, Tyrell walked up to the downcast boy and tapped him on the shoulder.

His head perked up upon the touch in surprise, but once he saw that it was Tyrell he relaxed a bit.

"Troubles in wooing your woman Jaune?" Tyrell asked with a small grin, and the boy's shoulders dropped even further.

"Yeah…, but she's not my woman."

"And you tried to use this instrument and your vocal skills to try and win her over?" Another nod of conformation as Tyrell walked Jaune down the hallway a bit to get them away from RWBY's dorm room.

"And was this the first time you have tried to ask her out?"

"No. I've tried pretty much everything to win Weiss over, but she always shoots me down. I don't know what else I can do to?" Jaune sounded a little distressed, and it was clear that this had been bothering him for quite a while.

"I'm certainly no expert when it comes to finding one's love Jaune, but allow me to ask you this. Have you ever considered that she may not show the same feelings towards you as you for her?"

"Yes I have, but Weiss is just not all that sociable is all. If I can thaw out her frozen heart, then I think she'll be happy. But she never talks to me and no matter what I try nothing will get me closer to her." Tyrell didn't notice it until now, but they had continued to walk and were now in a lounge room of sorts.

Seeing two vacant seats, Tyrell motioned Jaune to sit. Taking a seat Tyrell asked, "Have you ever considered that she may not want to socialize with you perhaps?"

"Again, that's her icy personality that gets in the way of me trying to make her happy. Why can't anyone understand that?"

Looking him straight in the eye Tyrell said, "Do you really think that forcing someone to like you will result in a happy relationship Jaune?"

"What!? No-"

"Do you personally believe that trying to woo her with these displays of affection…?" The Sentinel pointed at Jaune's guitar, "Will get you any closer to your goal of trying to melt her 'icy' heart? It will not; and do you know why?"

"No?"

"It is because you cannot force someone to change into something they're not. Change takes time Jaune, and from what I have observed over the last week, I notice how there are plenty of small arguments within team RWBY, with the heiress being a part of them."

Jaune waited silently and did not interrupt as Tyrell continued. "From what I have observed, Ms. Schnee has certainly grown closer to her team than when they first met from what I have been told, but that took time. A stranger who is not a part of that team would take her even _more_ time to learn to get along with."

"Professor, what exactly are you saying?" Jaune asked as he was now starting to feel guilt over something that he could not think of.

"What I'm saying is that you cannot force yourself into Weiss's life just because you want to; even if it's for a good reason. So while it is okay for you to have asked her to accompany you to the dance, if she has said no, then you just leave it at that."

"I believe that she will not only be happy to not have to continuously reject you, but the stunt in growth of your friendship with her will no longer be present."

' _At least I hope so.'_ The older knight thought in his mind. From what he has learned about Weiss, from his fellow staff and observations, she seems to keep herself separated from others besides her own team and Jaune's team for the most part.

Jaune looked even worse than when he was rejected by Weiss just minutes ago, but there was also a different sign in his features as well that Tyrell couldn't place.

"I… see what you're saying professor, but I'm not going to give up in my pursuit of Weiss either." This had disappointed the Sentinel as he shook his head and stood up.

Taking a deep sigh he said, "I will not try to convince you otherwise then Jaune, butif I start to receive any complaints about harassment from Ms. Schnee, then there _will_ be consequences I assure you."

…

Classes have ended for the day and both students and staff were preparing themselves for the dance. The sun had set for yet another day and the shattered moon had now risen into the sky accompanied by the stars.

Tyrell was currently getting himself ready as well. Dawning a sleek dark silver tuxedo with a white undershirt, he was now adjusting the tie around his neck.

Luckily, Ren had shown him how to properly tie the damn thing as he accidentally wrapped it too tightly around his neck. Loosening it until he could breathe accordingly again, Tyrell made sure that his black shoes weren't loose and that his tux was buttoned up.

He felt strange looking at himself in the mirror. For countless years, all he had known from life was combat against his fellow kin, surviving, growing stronger, and death on many different occasions.

And now he was going to a dance in another world.

It caused a foreign feeling too well up inside, but it felt surprisingly good. Checking himself over one last time, Tyrell headed off towards the dance.

After he arrived through the ball room doors, he was greeted by Yang, standing at a podium. She wore a simple white dress that had no sleeves and from what he could see it looked like a long skirt hung down to just above her knees.

"You look great teach!" She greeted with a large smile. "Gonna impress some ladies tonight." She winked at him then before taking a quick look down at the podium.

He didn't notice before, but there was a list of attendants' names, many had a check next to them and a few remained unchecked.

Giving her a smile of his own he complimented her outfit as well. "You look stunning this evening Yang. I'm sure that your date is very happy to have the honor to bring you here tonight."

Yang then casually said, "I didn't come with a date. Wasn't really interested to get one and decided to come alone." She still held here smile as she said this, but Tyrell lost his as the air felt somewhat awkward at the moment.

"Well, in any case then have a pleasant evening Yang." With that he walked into the crowd of dancing couples.

Eventually he spotted Glynda standing over by one of the windows along with Ozpin. Having made his way over towards the two Tyrell greeted each. "How are we doing this night?"

Ozpin's face remained mainly neutral, but a small hint of a smile formed as he replied, "The students are happy and having a good time, so I'm relaxed for the most part."

When Tyrell turned to face Glynda and asked, "And you Glynda?" Even now she still held up the stone faced mask that hid her emotions, and Tyrell was a little disappointed to see this.

"I'm fine and just grateful to have a peaceful night." But for Glynda, the peace did not last as James came up and tapped her on the shoulder. When Goodwitch turned to face the General he held out his hand, not even asking her if she would care to dance.

Rolling her eyes, Glynda was about to (begrudgingly) place her hand in James's to dance with him before Tyrell intervened.

" _Actually_ General, Ms. Goodwitch had promised me a dance once I have arrived. Would you care to dance Glynda?" The knight asked while holding out his own hand just as James had done.

She quickly, perhaps a tad too fast, removed her hand away from James's and placed it into Tyrell's awaiting one. "Yes, Sir Tyrell, I would. We can dance later James." Both began to walk away from Ozpin and Ironwood with Glynda leading them onto the dance floor.

The General sent him a glare that seemed to conceal hidden anger, and his brows furrowed into a scowl. The Sentinel ignored the General's look and continued to lead Glynda to the dance floor where they began to dance; just as they had practiced in the afternoon.

Holding Glynda's hand and placing the other behind her back Tyrell took the lead. As they danced Glynda spoke up soon after they began.

"Thank you for that." Her tone sounded like she was relieved of a burden of sorts. Tyrell sent a quick look over in the General's direction and saw him talking to Ozpin. Smiles that looked rather forced were plastered on the two old friends it appeared.

Focusing his attention back onto Glynda he asked, "I have been meaning to ask you about the General. Both you and the Headmaster seem to always be uneasy whenever he is within the same room as you, and you look like you put up a false front of tolerance whenever he talks to you. Why?"

She took a slow breath before answering. "James had always been a trusted friend of both Ozpin and I, but after he went off to Atlas he became more distant from us both. He is generally a good person and holds only the best intentions for the citizens of both Vale and Atlas, but…"

She couldn't seem to find the right words for a moment and seemed distracted by something that the knight couldn't see.

"But what Glynda?" He asked. As soon as he said her name she seemed to come out of whatever was distracting her as she apologized before continuing.

"He is too direct. Never afraid to bear the might of his military under his command in an argument. Where Ozpin and I would take our time and be cautious, James would go in guns blazing without a second thought. I especially have distaste for his bravado attitude as well." The song had ended and a new one began to play. This one sounded calm and lighthearted as the two continued both the dance and conversation.

"Does he not care for either of your opinions?" She shook her head at the question before coming to Ironwood's defense.

"No, James is very loyal to his allies and no matter how questionable his methods may be, I know that he only holds good intentions behind them." Tyrell looked into her eyes and knew that she was telling the truth, but doubt lingered behind those green orbs.

Her eyes widened slightly when she realized that he saw the doubt she tried to hide, but they then couldn't meet his as she said in a softer tone, "I just wish that he would show more trust towards Ozpin and I."

"May I cut in?" It was Ironwood again, and he looked like he would not be taking no as an answer. Tyrell tried to look at Glynda, but the woman had her head turned towards the General instead with another forced smile.

"Certainly James. Sir Tyrell, thank you for the dance." Tyrell put up his own smile and did a short bow to the both of them and excused himself. He could feel the General's eyes lingering on him for a moment, but the feeling disappeared as both James and Glynda started their dance with a new song that began to play.

Finding his way over to the punch bowl, Tyrell walked by Ruby who wore a dark crimson dress. He would have greeted the young girl, but another sight caught his attention.

Jaune was wearing a dress.

…

"It appears all the dancers have partners." Emerald said into the hidden mic that was attached to her ear.

"How long do I have?" Cinder asked through her own earpiece from the rooftop of a building located right next to the CCT.

"We should probably be home by midnight to be safe." Mercury answered.

"I'll keep my eye on the clock then." With that Cinder stood up and began to run across the rooftop over towards the CCT. Alan was brought in with her to Beacon last night, and she was impressed at how well those rings worked as he managed to slip through the hallways undetected.

After introducing him to her associates, who seemed surprised when the man appeared out of the shadows in their dorm room, and was almost killed on the spot by Emerald had Cinder not ordered her to stop.

Filling them in on how he would be helping with the CCT infiltration, she ordered both to keep him inside their dorm room and to feed him when necessary.

Just like a caged animal.

Cinder smiled to herself as she neared the CCT's large tower. To her satisfaction, the runt of a man had taken the time spent in their dorm to look at a few different maps of both Beacon and the CCT to get the lay of the land. That saved her from having to explain to him where to go, and once he assured her that he knew both layouts like the back of his hand, she didn't need Emerald or Mercury to leave the dance to go and retrieve him.

Their dorm room was locked, but Cinder had Mercury leave the window unlocked for this night to allow the assassin to leave. He was going to meet her at the same time of her infiltration, ten minutes before midnight.

As she jumped over to the other side of the rooftop, she failed to see the open doors that lead into where the dance was being held. She also failed to notice the girl in a crimson dress spotting her.

Finally arriving at her destination, Cinder crouched down behind a wall. Peeking her head out ever so slightly, she spotted only one Atlas guard patrolling the outside entrance to the CCT.

When she looked to her right, to the opposite wall, she spotted Alan standing behind the cover. She nodded her head towards him and then held up one finger, indicating the guard.

Alan held up four clawed fingers and drew a circle in the air, then a smaller one inside the same circle. That was how many guards were on the inside of the first floor.

' _So he scouted ahead. How useful.'_ She thought to herself as she nodded back to him one last time before dashing towards Alan's cover. The movement had caught the guard's attention, and he began to walk slowly to investigate the disturbance.

Alan had placed on both of his rings and began making his way towards the guard himself. The guard didn't see Alan as the assassin threw a single throwing knife that found its way into the man's throat.

The man couldn't even make any sound as Cinder came up behind him and covered his mouth. She dragged the dying man into the bushes where she knocked him out, not out of mercy but to prevent him from alerting the other guards inside.

When she removed her hands, she was surprised to find no blood on them. Thinking that the wound would have caused a little blood to gush out, but when she looked at the soon to be corpse she noticed that the knife was imbedded deep enough where only a few trickles of blood poured from the fatal wound.

Alan came up to her and she nodded her head in approval of his precision.

Once the two of them had entered the CCT, Cinder was happy to see that Alan's numbers were accurate. Only four guards were patrolling down on this level. Alan disappeared into the shadows of the room while Cinder walked casually into the building.

The first guard to notice her said, "Excuse me. No one's allowed in this area." When she didn't stop her approach, the man placed a hand on his pistol at his side before shouting, "Stop!" He pulled out the small firearm and began to shoot near her feet, but she quickly dashed forward and got within his guard.

Wrapping her arm around his own, she used her free one to deliver a punch to the side of his head. Another guard began to rush towards her with a stun baton ready to take her down.

With the man's arm still in her grasp, she forced him to pull the trigger and in turn it took down the one holding the baton. Without Aura, these ones would be easy to fall.

Grabbing onto the shoulders of the one who shot his comrade, Cinder flipped herself over the man and with the added momentum, threw him into the side railing of a set of stairs.

An audible crunch was heard as the guard fell to the ground unconscious and beaten.

The last two remaining guards began to quickly rush towards her, each drawing a stun baton. Spinning around in a quick circle, Cinder activated a part of her semblance and summoned two hardened, jagged glass short swords; one for each hand.

The one closest to her rushed in without thinking as she easily sidestepped the guard and delivered a quick slash to the man's back with both blades set ablaze. He stumbled forwards a bit before she kicked him at the base of his back; sending him to the ground.

The second guard was upon her in an instant as he swung his baton to try a land a hit on her. Unfortunately for him she dodged the attack, which left him exposed.

Taking the opportunity she side swept his legs out from underneath him and (as a show of skill) drove her left knee into the back of his head while he was still midair.

The blow to the head made the man fall to the ground like a sack of rocks as she made a quick survey of the room to check for any missed guards. There were none.

' _All taken care of.'_ Cinder thought as she turned around to head towards the elevator when suddenly the guard that she had kicked in the back had emerged out of nowhere behind her.

Her eyes widened slightly behind her mask at the fact that the guard could sneak up on her like that without her noticing. Parrying his baton like it was nothing, because compared to her it was, another surprise came from the shadows.

Alan had appeared behind the stunned guard and in an instant he was clinging to the man's back looking like a small child giving his father a hug.

Wrapping his legs and one arm around the guard, with his free hand he plunged his metal claws into his windpipe. This time blood spurted up and covered the small man. The crimson liquid stained his hands, forearms, and the bottom portion of his mask exposing his camouflage.

After jumping off the dead guard and resting the body down (claw still in the guard's throat), she noticed his shoulders rose slowly upwards in silence. Cinder could only assume it was the man sighing as he removed the ring that kept him mostly invisible.

Cinder backed away from the dead guard, as to avoid any blood staining her form to keep suspicion at a low.

Looking at one another for a brief moment, Alan removed his clawed hand from the man's neck and wiped some of the dripping blood over his outfit before each walked towards the elevator.

"Hey man, do you know the wifi password?"

"It's Beacon, but replace the 'e' with a three and add a pound symbol to the end."

The two guards were on their way to the ground level of the CCT to report to General Ironwood that the top floors of the CCT were secure, but when the doors opened both were greeted by an unpleasant sight.

A woman wearing black clothing, with only her shoulders, a bit of her chest, and wearing a mask, greeted them. Alongside her was a short man dressed up like some freak mummy and wore what looked like a metal beak on his head; alongside that both his feet and hands were sharpened metal claws, with the latter stained with blood.

Each of them placed a hand on their sidearm as one of them took notice of the bodies lying unmoving near the entrance.

Both figures walked into the elevator with a calm aura around them before the doors shut.

Ruby had left the dance immediately when she noticed the figure running towards the CCT building.

As she neared the entrance, she let out a quite gasp as she saw the (presumed) unconscious guard lying in the bushes.

Immediately taking out her Scroll, Ruby dialed her rocket propelled locker to her location. It was there faster than she expected, but she had no time to ponder the speed of flying lockers as she pulled out Crescent Rose and headed into the CCT building.

"Hmm, that's handy." Cinder said bemused as she entered Beacon's wifi password into her own Scroll.

Behind her in the elevator were the two guards, one unconscious from a few blows to the head and the other dead from a slit throat.

As Alan exited the elevator as well, he removed the Slumbering Dragoncrest ring for a moment before asking, "This wifi that you speak of, is it the same as writing a message on the ground?"

Cinder just gave the assassin a quizzical look before focusing her attention back to why she was here. Seeing that his question would go unanswered, Alan placed the ring back on his finger and waited beside the elevator door.

Finding the main access terminal where the CCT's main AI would normally be stationed, Cinder sat herself down and began to hack into the CCT mainframe using her Scroll.

After a few minutes had passed, she was already halfway complete into breaking down the building's firewalls. A second later Cinder's earpiece was filled with Emerald's voice.

"A guest is leaving."

Allowing herself a small sigh of annoyance she asked, "Which one?"

"Ironwood!" Emerald sounded worried while Mercury added in his two cents.

"I guess the General's had enough fun for one night. Should we intervene?" As he asked this, the last firewall had been broken through and a silhouette of a Queen Chess piece appeared on the screen in front of her.

A soft beeping noise could be heard as all the other terminals within the room also had the same symbol appear on their screens.

"No. We're done here." Cinder said with a small smile and a sense of accomplishment in her tone. Removing her Scroll from the main terminal, Cinder was about to finish up the last bit of her plan before the sound of the elevator approaching was heard.

She had lost sight of Alan for a moment, before she noticed the small glint of reflecting light coming off the metal pieces of his armor as he had clawed himself into the wall above the elevator doors.

' _He's sure full of surprises. I wonder what else Abell has in his army?'_ She thought to herself as she hid herself behind the main terminal. Once the doors were opened, she heard the footsteps of heels against tile enter the room.

Ruby walked into the CCT's top floor feeling slightly unsettled. On her way here she saw the bodies of the Atlas guards that were strewn about on the first floor; but the part that got her unsettled was that she saw a guard with a gruesome wound on his neck while the rest were unconscious.

At least she hoped they were.

Taking her first few steps into the room Ruby called out, "Hello?" Not even three seconds after she nearly tripped on her heels that she was forced to wear to the dance by Yang.

' _Stupid heels! Why couldn't I wear my boots instead!?'_ She wondered in her head as she continued to look around the room for any signs of activity. All of the terminals were lit up which meant that someone was definitely here, and still might be.

"Anybody there?" She called out again. _'Why am I calling out? Wouldn't that just give my position-… darn it.'_

However, it seemed that her calling out paid off as a woman emerged from behind the main terminal. She looked pretty, and those eyes, Ruby felt that she's seen them somewhere before.

"Uhh excuse me. It's not a masquerade party, so why don't you take off that mask and-" However she was cut off as the woman pulled out a Dust vile and slashed it across to allow the Dust to fly out of the vile. The Dust quickly hardened into larger crystals that were soon sent flying straight towards the reaper.

Ruby's eyes widened in shock as she twirled Crescent Rose to block the incoming Dust crystals. Once they had all turned to tiny particles, she aimed the barrel of her weapon towards the intruder and fired multiple shots.

Shots that the woman easily blocked with just her hand.

' _Okay, now I_ know _that I've seen her somewhere before!'_ The young Rose thought furiously as those were four sniper rounds down the drain.

The woman then drew two short swords from flames as she seemed to be waiting for Ruby to attack. Taking the first chance to strike, Ruby planted the blade of Crescent Rose into the ground behind her and shot herself forward.

Twirling her weapon in the air, Ruby slammed the blade into where the woman once stood. The intruder had jumped back away from the impact and when she landed, she gave Ruby a small smirk before looking up a bit at something behind her.

Ruby didn't have time to check what it was (not that she would, because she isn't that gullible… all the time) as the woman drew another weapon from her flames. This time it was a bow with three black arrows aimed at the young girl's head.

Cinder released two of the arrows at Ruby Rose, causing the girl to retreat all the way back near the same elevator that she came in. The third arrow, however, was aimed at the assassin that was still perched up on the wall above the one that they arrived in.

He didn't have time to react as the third arrow had hit the wall space right next to him and exploded sending him falling down right in front of the young Rose.

The girl was startled to see the now smoking form of the small man fall from seemingly nowhere, and it was enough time for Cinder to wrap her flames around herself and disappear.

Ruby jumped back as the charred and still smoking form of a small man fell in front of her. When she managed to look away from the man, she saw that the woman was gone.

And to make things worse, she heard the voice of the General behind her saying, "I believe that we have a few things to discuss."

…

"And how was your night?" Mercury asked as he and Cinder danced together when she returned.

"Mmm, a little more exciting than expected, but everything went according to plan."

"Should we be worried?" Mercury asked in a not-so-worried voice.

"Hardly. They'll be scratching their heads long after we finished what we came here for."

"And as for our 'friend'?" Mercury asked with a small wicked smile on his face.

"He's within the General's company now, so he won't be a problem, even if he's still breathing after the hit he took." Cinder said with satisfaction as her betrayal of Abell's assassin worked flawlessly.

She was originally just going to kill him in a straight out fight, but the Rose's interference served a much better distraction to kill him without wasting time.

Ironwood would have a body and the plan could keep going. Cinder was somewhat worried about the young Rose, but she would take care of her if she proved to be a bigger threat.

The two fake students from Haven continued to dance the night away as a slow song began to play.

…

 _ **During the same time as the dance…**_

' _Five portals…'_

Five portals were set up in various locations across the decaying Lordran. Five pieces of Abell's army stood waiting at each portal. Each piece rounding to about four hundred thousand strong, but his own was nearly thrice as large.

Each piece of his army stood with his Ashen Knights, members of the Old Guard, masters of the soul arts and their apprentices of both the Miracle Church and Magic Academy. It seemed that Grandahl had increased his followers as more and more apprentices yearning to learn the art of hexes filled the ranks, but only a small increase.

Of course before they could even try to learn the dark hexes, they had to learn the opposite of which soul art they were accustomed to as Grandahl had mentioned to the Ashen Lord in a previous conversation.

Each new apprentice either came from the Church or the Academy and with very few knowing even how to start learning their polar opposite soul art, there would not be any new students for Grandahl to teach for a quite a while.

A few thunderous footsteps were heard off in the distance as Abell turned to regard one of his ashen golems picking up a large crate full of some of their dwindling food supplies.

The golems were his soul's greatest creation.

Made up of the same material as both his castle and the Sinner's tomb, they were very durable and could take quite a few heavy hits if ever in combat. Standing around the same height of the giant Sentinels of the old Anor Londo, most of the golems had been based off of the giants that once lived in the ancient city.

Where they looked similar to the giants without armor, Abell mainly formed them as hulking humanoid constructions without much detail. That changed soon however as he wanted every possible unit, whether they be soldier, scholar, priest, or ash and rock, to be ready for when they would meet these creatures of Grimm.

And the humans who walked in the Light, if they chose to expel them from their world.

Adding armor features similar to that of Tarkus's Black Iron set and the Iron Golem that he had fought so long ago. They had Tarkus's shoulders, gauntlets, and even his helmet, but the Iron Golem's chest and leggings with the tips of the feet flattened out.

Each one carried a greatshield similar to that of the ones wielded by the once mighty bishop and his rock warriors, but these ones were cut directly from the castle itself. Each carries a Black Knight Greataxe as well, but with the proportions fit for a demigod.

They were valuable pieces of his army that he would prefer to not lose to the Grimm as it drained the Ashen Lord to create even a dozen of the constructs. How he survived creating five thousand of the damn things over the years was a mystery in itself, but they would be worth the pain once their new home was secure.

Each piece of his army was set and being led by his chosen generals. Aulnor led the piece stationed in the Demon Ruins. Alonne and his piece waited within the Darkroot Forest. Grandahl waited within both the Duke's Archives and Crystal Caves. What would have been Tyrell's piece was instead given to General Tolek, a proven warrior and commander, who waited in the ruins of Anor Londo.

And Abell… he waited within where it all began; the Sinner's tomb and the grave of the First Flame.

It was ironic really. Where the Sinner had destroyed Humanity's chance to live their own age, would be the same place to give them the chance to live it.

Raising the Dark Soul up to his chest, Abell said aloud, "Remnant…"

A dark portal opened, similar to the one Manus had used to drag him back in time with, but instead of purple pulsating within the inky black, white was instead. At the same time, the same portal appeared at the other awaiting locations.

Walking up slowly to the portal, Abell outstretched his hand containing the Dark Soul, and placed it within the pulsating portal.

A second passed, and then two as the portal began to send out large pulse waves that spread across Lordran. Then, the portal began to repeatedly swirl in a complete circle and expand.

It grew large enough to swallow three men, and soon one of his golems. The air around Abell and the piece of his army began to crackle and wind roared against their ears. Any remaining ash within the tomb was soon picked up within the strong winds and swirled around the portal.

Abell heard a few of his men gasp and turned around to a sight he didn't expect. Within the chest of each of his knights that he could see, a faint white glow was emitting.

Turning back to look at his hand within the portal, Abell saw that where his hand was a blinding white light had appeared. Turning to look at his knights once more, he saw how they stood with no fear in the face of the unknown.

They were ready for whatever layed on the other side of this portal.

Facing the Dark Soul and portal once more Abell sung in a soft tone, "Fires far. Journeys not remembered now… Tired, scarred. Kneel among the embers now~"

He did not realize it, but the Dark Soul had amplified his voice throughout Lordran as it had during his speech the other night. It was the only thing that any Undead could remember once they had all been freed of the Undead Curse.

Like some sick lullaby that spoke of their fate.

"Breathe life into this hollowed. Vessel of rebirth. Over and over be denied, the peaceful earth…"

When he began the next line, his family joined him.

" _ **To light the fires far…"**_ But he couldn't understand why he felt like he was beginning to hollow all over again.

" _ **Ignite the fires far! Sisters of solace singing! Ignite the fires far. The mourning bells are ringing!"**_

" _ **Deep in the crumbling walls… the souls of the cursed will fall! Though kingdoms will fade, decay. The ghosts of the past will stay! Locked away…"**_

Soon, the first one had simply disappeared into the air. As if they were using the Lordvessel to warp between bonfires like he had done so long ago.

" _ **Ignite the fires far! Sisters of solace singing! Ignite the fires far. The mourning bells are ringing!"**_

Soon they were all disappearing into nothingness and they were being warped to Remnant.

" _ **Breathe life into this hollowed! Vessel of rebirth. Over and over be denied the peaceful earth!"**_

It hadn't even taken but a few minutes, but now Abell was all alone within the Sinner's tomb. The portal still caused the air to crack and the wind to howl, but Abell stayed still as he finished the last line.

"To light the fires far…"

And then he disappeared into the void along with the rest.

* * *

 **Lyrics used: "Fires Far" by Miracle of Sound.**

* * *

 **Yet another one done. I'm happy that I managed to get this one out before Christmas. So a few things to discuss/mention in this AN.**

 **I have been watching the last few episodes of Volume three, and while I love them, I'm still disappointed with what they did with CRDL. Also, the latest episode… omg it made me want to hug my computer. I have to admit that I was getting tired of seeing the fights. I just thought to myself 'Gee a new episode, only one step closer to the end of the tournament.' Thankfully they introduced the new part of the plot so I was happy about that.**

 **Now I know that I have said in the past that I would not be using anything from Volume three, that my story would have its own original story and not follow canon. That will always remain true, but that does not mean that I will not be using anything from Volume three. *cough* Giant flying stadium *cough***

 **But seriously, I will be using the Vytal festival/tournament for the future of this story.**

 **Okay last two things. I will be working on a Christmas special of this story after this chapter goes up, but don't expect it to be out Christmas day. I will try and shoot for before the new year hits, but no promises. Then we will get back to the main story.**

 **Also, the rating of this story will be changed to 'M' rated for the future. One, I'm not entirely sure where some of the scenes that I have planned for the future will be in terms of rated 'T' or 'M'. I don't even know if this chapter is considered one or the other (I'm guessing 'T' though).**

 **So with that I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope everyone has happy holidays. And I will talk to you all in the next update!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello everyone! I think that I'm starting to get faster with these chapter updates… Dats pretty neat. Something different with this chapter for you all. Remember that time skip I mentioned in the last two updates? Well I mixed things up a bit here with this one so I hope you all enjoy the chapter. I will explain more in the AN at the end.**

 **Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Remnant's Fifth Kingdom**_

Darkness.

Sweet. Blissful. Unending Dark.

That is what he could recall as he was taken away from his old home and on to his new one.

" _Remnant."_ They all said in union. He wasn't sure if he was one of them or not, but he felt himself speak the word as if he had always known it. He couldn't wait to see his home and his kingdom waiting there to welcome him.

Within the darkness there was light as well, but not the same light that had caused him so much suffering. No, the lights of the thousands of souls filled the unending dark floating about just as he was.

He floated over towards one that was closest to him. Its light pierced the dark, just barely able to keep itself from being consumed by the endless black. He reached out with his hand to touch the precious, fragile, orb.

It moved a little away from him and as he tried again to grasp it, the white orb pushed itself away further.

Ignoring the stubborn soul he moved onto another one. This one's light had dimmed a bit compared to the last, but to him it didn't matter as he tried to grab it.

However, it too moved away from him, as if afraid of his touch alone.

" _Why?"_ They all spoke again. They sounded confused and lost, but he himself did not feel that way even though he felt his mouth ask the question.

Looking around he noticed that all the souls within his general vicinity were slowly gravitating away from him, but there was something else. They were all moving in one direction not to get away from him, but _around_ him instead.

" _Don't go."_ They all spoke at once. More of a command rather than a plea, but it did nothing to stop the souls as they continued to move themselves around his form.

" _Don't leave me alone…"_ They said again as he tried to reach out and continue to grab any one of the souls that kept escaping his grasp. One after another he failed to attain one of the thousands of souls around him, and it caused him to feel frustrated.

After yet another failed attempt to grab one a thought occurred to him. _'Wait… I have my own soul.'_ It was as if he had forgotten that he himself held a soul of his very own.

He brought his hand up to look at, but he didn't recognize it. His hand was glowing as bright as the souls around him, a bright white, but there was something else as well; a thin red outline that could just be made out by looking at his hand's outer lining.

Shrugging his shoulders he reached within his chest and felt around inside. After a few minutes had passed, or had it been hours? He didn't recall anything as he continued to search within for his soul.

'… _Hmm?'_

He felt nothing inside save for a deep coldness that he never knew was there in the first place.

' _Aren't souls supposed to be warm?'_ He thought with slight confusion as he gripped the cold feeling within his fingers.

They were already beginning to feel numb when he extracted the cold from within his body, but he suddenly felt incredibly weak all over.

Inside and out.

Straining to look at what exactly he pulled out from within himself, his eyes widened as his weakened state would allow (which wasn't much). Before him sat not one, but two souls.

One was the color of a burning fire, but a darker flame was present making it burn the colors of a burnt orange with a touch of charcoal. He could feel slight warmth coming from the orange soul, as faint as it was.

The second soul was as black as the Abyss that surrounded him. He would have missed the second soul entirely if not for the burning white flame surrounding it and the painful cold radiating from it.

Both were together, but not together.

True when he pulled them from his chest they moved as if one, but neither were intertwined or anything like that. The closest they were to 'together' would be that the black soul was only bumping slightly against the orange one within his palm.

" _Hunger."_ They said aloud again, but this time it sounded like the voices were coming from all around him this time.

' _Hunger?'_ He thought to himself, confused.

" _Thirst."_ They said again, but this time a little louder. Their voices starting to become somewhat of a moan.

He was becoming confused at the meaning of their words as he felt neither hungry nor thirsty, but only empty.

" _Consume…"_ They spoke yet again as he tried to understand the meaning of what their voices were talking about.

Mustering up all the strength that he had left in his weak body he managed to croak out in a raspy, dry voice; sounding like sandpaper.

"Consume… w-wh-what?" It was all he could manage as that alone had drained him of pretty much all the energy that was left. He couldn't feel his legs anymore nor his arms as everything began to go numb.

Silence fell within the Abyss as he just kept his eyes on the two souls held in his numb hand.

A chuckle.

A deep, booming one that sounded unlike anything he had heard before. Like something so ancient that the tides of time removed it from your mind, but only for it to come rushing back and sounding unlike anything you have ever heard before.

" _ **S-O-U-L-S**_ _!"_ Their voices screamed loud enough to shatter his hearing as he even felt blood begin to trickle down his face. Or perhaps it was sweat? He couldn't tell as he had lost most feeling within his face as well.

Suddenly the two souls started to lift themselves away from his numb form and further away from him. His eyes shifted to follow the two as they headed towards a large pool of slowly moving souls.

"C **o** m **e b** ac **k to** m **e…** " Both he and the voices said in union as the souls stopped moving within the middle of the large mass of souls.

From what he could see, the black soul expanded and… somehow devoured the orange one.

He could feel it.

His life force beginning to slip away as he began to fade away from existence.

' _So that had been my soul… I should have known, but… why did I forget?'_

It didn't matter now as the black soul began to expand even further until it was the size of a man. It even took on the form of one, with the white from before burning even brighter around the newly formed soul. The remnants of what was once his own soul burned bright within the black soul's center chest.

" **Finally."** They said aloud, no, not 'they' anymore. It.

His vision was growing blurry and he was ready to embrace _true_ death after so long of living a cruel, immortal existence.

" **Oh no. You don't get to leave that easily."** It said as it turned towards him. Two burning white eyes starred at him as his own blue tried to avert the piercing gaze.

It brought a hand out and the souls that had been floating around began to be sucked into its outstretched palm. Hundreds of souls disappeared into the dark body, never to be seen again, but his soul began to glow even brighter as they absorbed those same souls.

The feeling of fading away lessened until he began to receive feeling again, but still empty on the inside.

" **Just enough to keep you alive and conscious."** It said aloud as it advanced slowly towards him. He could sense that same cold feeling getting closer, and wrap around him as it made a few movements with its left hand.

Now able to turn his head again (albeit slightly) he saw that thick, heavy dark roots reached out to him from the Abyss itself as they wrapped around his arms, waist, legs, and neck. The root around his neck pulled his head up so that he could now face the black soul.

" **Thank you Chosen Undead. You have heeded your ancestor's wish and brought the Age of Fire to an end. Now the Dark Lord will rise and the Age of Man will begin…"** It said with a deep voice that sounded like multiple people were speaking all at the same time. **"And you will serve as its vessel for the new world."**

He could only look at the black soul with confusion and another feeling that he couldn't remember.

" **Of course you wouldn't remember. You won't remember many things, and that's how I plan to keep it."** It crossed its arms and turned away as it continued. **"Remnant…"** It seemed to savor the word as it seemed finished and before he could hear anything else, his weak form failed him as he lost consciousness and he fell to the darkness.

Bitter. Painful. Darkness.

…

He slowly opened his eyes to see a tarp of sorts above him. Shifting his head, he saw that he was in a tent of sorts and on a make-shift bed as he heard someone say in a bemused tone, "Our Lord awakes."

Looking for the source of the voice Abell found it to be Grandahl. The old hexer sat in his wheelchair and looked down at Abell with an amused grin.

The Ashen Lord sat himself up slowly before asking, "What happened Grandahl?" His voice sounded weak and dry as he looked around the tent. There wasn't much to say in terms of decoration.

Beige colored tarp surrounded the two occupants forming a box shape around them while the ceiling came together to form a pyramid atop them. A few chests lay around, some small and others large, no doubt carrying his personal possessions inside. His bed looked to be made of only one thinly stuffed mattress, along with a few small blankets to keep his body from freezing and was flat on the ground.

A large wooden table took up almost half of the space within the tent. Atop it there were multiple pens, ink bottles, and a few candle sticks that had been lit recently.

The bed wasn't the most uncomfortable thing he had ever slept on, but he wouldn't complain as he turned towards the hexer for an answer.

"Well, to put it simply my Lord, you fainted upon your arrival to Remnant." The old man had an amused grin on his features but did not laugh as Abell questioned, "Fainted?"

"Yes my Lord. When we left through the portal created by the Dark Soul, it seems that you had to of been the last one to leave Lordran as we all waited for you to appear. However, some time had passed and everyone was beginning to worry as you still hadn't appeared yet." Grandahl's voice sounded the least bit concerned as Abell still held his tongue.

"Finally, you appeared from within the portal, but not a second after the portal had closed did you fall. When your armor was removed, many were surprised at how pale and thin you grew. It almost looked as though you had hollowed." Abell felt his heart skip a beat at the word used by the old man.

"It seems that the Dark Soul has a price for its use after all." The hexer theorized as he wheeled his chair over towards the large table occupying most of the tent's space.

Abell looked down at himself to see that he only had a long black robe on with the sleeves rolled up as he raised his palm to summon the Dark Soul.

It was before his eyes in an instant. Nothing out of the ordinary had changed about it as it burned quietly within his hand. After observing it for a few moments Abell voiced Grandahl one of his concerns.

"How long had I been out?"

The older man turned his wheelchair around slowly and began to stroke his long beard in thought. Still stroking his beard he gave Abell his answer.

"I would wager about almost an entire week at most. How convenient how both the sun and moon stay up roughly around the same as ours once did."

Abell sighed in frustration at having been out of it for so long as to not help his kingdom, and there were still worries that he still needed to address. Slowly managing to stand up, Abell walked slowly (and wobbly) towards the table that the hexer had positioned himself next to.

"And what do we have here?" He asked with curiosity as he made it to the table without falling over. Damn he felt so weak right now; probably enough where even a feral hollow could take him on with no problem.

' _A map?'_ Abell thought to himself as he observed what contents were spread out on the table. There was a map that looked only partially complete that he couldn't see before from his lowered position from the bed. From what he could tell it looked like the parts of a dragon that had a single wing raised.

There was only the head, neck, a portion of its back complete, and the single wing had been filled out enough to be identifiable as one. Abell studied the map more closely and noticed that two locations had been marked.

The first was a small picture of three little huts drawn at the base of the neck that connected with the rest of the body. Apparently the Dark Soul had led them to that part of Remnant, but Abell knew that there would be more to this world than what was mapped out so far.

The second marked location was located towards the actual head of the dragon itself. The small picture drawn there was that of a three towers with a circle around them.

"Alonne had taken his men towards those towers two days ago. He said that you might find what is there useful." Grandahl spoke up besides Abell as the Ashen Lord pointed at the portion that led further down to what he assumed would be the rest of the land.

"Have either of Aulnor or Tolek left to explore the lands?" He asked with concealed concern of his knights exploring this new world. "And what of the Grimm creatures that the Sentinel had reported? Have we made any contact with them?"

"Tolek has taken his men to go and explore the lower sections of the land, but he promised that he would return by nightfall tomorrow. As for Aulnor he went ahead with his scouts to explore the northern side of these lands," Leaning forward and placing his wrinkled finger on the single wing and then leaned back in his chair he continued, "But he has since returned before you had woken my Lord."

"Although I'm not entirely pleased that they had gone off to explore before my waking, I suppose I cannot blame them for wanting to explore their new home." Abell said with a small sigh as he then asked again, "What of the Grimm Grandahl?"

"Ah yes, the dark beasts of Remnant." The way he said it caused Abell to narrow his eyes at the hexer. The old man actually sounded excited to talk about these creatures.

Facing the chair ridden man to give him his full attention, Grandahl explained their first encounter with the Grimm.

Of course it would have been negative if anything Tyrell had reported was to be correct. It seemed that not even after an hour since their arrival had the creatures surrounded them, and began to attack his knights. Grandahl spoke of how their first 'test' (as he referred the battle as) was a grand spectacle to watch.

Most of the Grimm that had attacked them were wolf like creatures that ranged from the size of his knights to around half the height of the golems. Along with them there were multiple other variations of these Grimm. From small boars to titanic serphants the Grimm had indeed managed to cut down Abell's army by a few hundred. That was before a storm of all three soul arts had rained down upon the defenseless creatures in a fury of power.

Abell felt a little bad for having missed it.

According to Grandahl the three soul arts had managed to put the creatures down faster than any blade had done; he would store that information away for later as he gathered his thoughts.

There would be time later to mourn the fallen, but right now he had to get his kingdom organized, having to secure food, water, shelter; as well as go and have a long talk with his three generals about what they have discovered so far on their new home.

Ordering Grandahl to leave the tent so that he could change into more comfortable clothing, Abell got ready to see his new home.

…

 _ **Three weeks later…**_

Climbing up and over onto Cardinal's Plunge, one of the newest landmarks added to their ever expanding map of Hedrikon, Abell held out his hand towards one of his guards that had accompanied him to the head of the dragon.

The Old Guard member placed into his outstretched hand a pair of binoculars. A little old and covered in rust, Abell placed the ancient piece of technology to his visor. What he saw through them made him smile as he had finally found where his kingdom would live.

Miles away from their current position atop Cardinal's Plunge sat what looked like the remains of a once prosperous city. Not only the ruins of a city that put Anor Londo to shame in terms of size, but the base structure of a once glorious castle as well sat within the middle of the ruins.

A few crumbling turrets stretched towards the sky as well as what must have been the highest tower of them all had chunks missing. It was hard to describe any more as they would have to get closer to get a better view of the ruins.

Now Abell understood why Alonne suggested why he should take the time to come and look at this place. It looked as though it could hold two times his army and golems combined!

It would take months, perhaps even years, to fully rebuild both city and castle, but Abell believed that it could be done as long as his kingdom kept at it.

"I want scouting parties ready to begin looking further into the city, but they are not to go near the castle nor are they allowed to engage the Grimm. They are to remain hidden and avoid them if possible." For the last few weeks his kingdom has been encountering more and more of the Grimm; sometimes in small packs and others in hordes that could wipe out villages in one night.

"We don't need more injured as supplies have already begun to run a little low." He said to the guard who nodded his head in understanding. Thankfully Hedrikon was the complete opposite of Lordran. The land was teeming with lush green forests that held desperately needed fruits as well as rivers with clear blue water. Another thing they had learned about the Grimm was that they never seemed to eat any of the resources provided.

Even with the new supplies of resources, it wouldn't be enough to keep his kingdom fueled long enough to survive long on Remnant.

That was why he had met the Chaos Witch face to face the other day once he had regained enough strength and got his kingdom as organized as best he could. She had… acted differently than what he was used to. All of those present had.

There were still a many things that he needed to learn of humanity that resided on this world.

Opening up a portal that would take them back to the camps, Abell ran a hand over his chest. Ever since he began to use the power of the Dark Soul again, his entire chest began to tighten hard enough where breathing did not come easy. When he would be out of the portal only then would it calm down.

Was it some sort of sign? His instincts telling him something was wrong? Or just his body's reaction after using so much of its power to bring his kingdom here?

He didn't have the answer and right now he didn't particularly care as there were more important things to worry about; such as his people and kingdom.

Signaling for his guards to follow, Abell took a deep breath and walked through the darkness yet again.

…

 _ **Two days after…**_

It snarled and bit at anyone who got too close. It thrashed within its confinements as it looked at the ones who had captured it.

Fresh meat surrounded the Beowolf as thousands of humans walked around the nest, either completing a certain task or stopping long enough to take a short glance at it.

The young Grimm would have been in pure pleasure to plunge its claws into every one of their throats. To bathe in their crimson blood would be pure ecstasy for the young Grimm. Unfortunalty for it, one of the human's golems kept it held firmly down on its belly with only one of its massive hands.

It tried to break free of the golem's grip though thrashing, biting, and even whimpering, but none of it worked as the hand remained pinning it down. Its grip stronger than rock.

The Beowolf saw two, no, three humans approaching it at a casual pace. They walked side by side, but the one in the middle stood a little farther ahead.

The middle one looked like one of them; only human form. Its shell was almost as black as their hides and it even held horns that the Beowolf thought were attached to its head. What confused the Beowolf however was that not only did the human look like one of its own kind, but it also _looked_ like the Grimm on the inside as well.

All Grimm had the ability to look past other creatures' physical forms and into the souls of those creatures. It was what allowed them to distinguish prey from kin. While the other two humans beside had _very_ dim souls, they could still be distinguished as human and not Grimm.

However, the one in front of it held no light within it. No _human_ soul resided within this one, but something else that the Beowolf had never seen before. A black soul as dark as its own hide resided within the middle one; even though it held a white light to it, the Beowolf knew that it wasn't a human's light.

It was something dark; something ancient and held no warmth; something to be feared even among the Grimm.

"Hold its head up." The middle one ordered.

The golem used its free hand to roughly grab the back of its head and yank backwards. The force behind it had strained the Beowolf's neck as its nose now pointed towards the sky, but it kept its red eyes locked onto the 'human'.

With just a little more pressure from the golem its spine would crack, but the creature of Grimm did not care if it died; as it only wanted to sink its fangs into the humans before it.

The middle one held up a hand and the Beowolf saw a tiny piece of the black soul detached from the main and appeared into the 'human's' palm.

The Grimm's eyes widened at this as the human began to come closer with its palm outstretched.

The Beowolf tried to thrash as if it had gone mad. The golem's strength far surpassed its own as the golem's grip didn't budge even an inch. It began to snarl and growl as the hand and shard of the black soul was only but an inch away from its exposed neck.

Red eyes looked into the cold, dark visor that the Beowolf knew hid the 'human's' eyes. It paused its hand before chuckling at the defiance in the Grimm's eyes.

"You do not give up so easily do you? Defiant. When one thinks that they can fight against their inevitable fate. I think I understand a little more why Grandahl finds your kind so fascinating." It said with what the Beowolf assumed was a cruel smile hidden beneath its shell.

It placed its hand against the Grimm's neck and the shard along with it.

"You will make fine additions to my army."

It was then the Beowolf felt itself hit the ground. Apparently the golem had released its grip and now the Grimm could begin the slaughter. Starting with the demon wearing human skin.

But when it tried to raise one of its arms to strike out against the demon before it, it found its arm unresponsive.

When it tried again the same result occurred, and even as it tried to move _any_ part of its body; it found that nothing responded.

"Rise dark wolf." It commanded.

The Beowolf's body did just that. Standing a head taller than the demon on its hind legs. The Beowolf looked down at the demon with an uncontrolled fury in its eyes

"Sit."

It followed the demon's orders like it was some sort of trained pet.

"Die."

The command had the Beowolf in complete and utter rage as it tried anything to keep its own claw from coming closer to its throat. But its will was too weak as five long claws rested against its throat.

It seemed that only its eyes were still under the Grimm's control as it just glared at the demon as it felt those same clawed fingers run across its throat.

Crimson blood sprang from the Beowolf's throat and covered both itself and the ground in front of it.

Abell didn't even flinch as the Grimm's blood got sprayed onto his black armor.

With a satisfied sigh he said, "Defiant until the end indeed."

…

 _ **Four days…**_

"Your Grimm are performing rather well my Lord." Alonne stated as both men sat within Abell's tent and discussed recent events happening within the kingdom.

"I couldn't be happier with the results." Abell replied as he recalled what has transpired over the last four days.

After conducting more research on the Grimm and how they had reacted to a small shard of the Dark Soul, Abell began to implant shards into what were considered 'lesser Grimm'. From these last few weeks spent on Remnant, the Ashen Lord had taken the necessary time to learn about both the environment and its inhabitants that surrounded his kingdom.

It appeared that only Grimm lived on these lands, and to make the food matter worse, their bodies evaporated within minutes after being killed.

But the Chaos witch and her own have been providing as much as they could these last few weeks. Still not as much as he would need, but it still helped greatly.

The dark wolf from a few days ago had been one of the first of many experiments conducted on the lower-class Grimm. However, there seemed to be a much higher-class of the Grimm that was fewer in numbers, but much more powerful.

It cost him nearly ten knights and a damaged (but repairable) golem to capture one of these higher-classed Grimm alive and feed it a shard of the Dark Soul.

The creature was a large bear-like one that had multiple spiked quills and bone like armor surrounding its top hide.

It managed to resist the shard of the Dark Soul for so long that he had to give it a shard just short of a full Humanity sprite to get it to submit to his will. When it did another surprise came to the surface.

The Grimm had undergone physical changes to its form as its black hide began to show signs of white in some areas. Keeping it alive to observe the changes and to make sure that his men hadn't died for nothing, Abell recalled its new form that appeared over the last two days.

Instead of the normal black hide that all Grimm had, the fur had turned to a snow white. Its quills actually retracted somewhat into its back and the tips turned a bright red. But the eyes were the most fascinating as instead of the normal deep red, a burning black came from beneath that bone white mask. The red markings remained the same atop its head as nearly everything else about it changed.

"We have recently scouted a structure of unknown origin my Lord." Alonne said with calmness in his voice. Abell tensed up somewhat as he had been wondering once in a while when they would make contact with the human's of Remnant. "Give me your full report Alonne."

His Knight of Omen nodded before going over everything that his scouts had found.

"A watch tower of sorts. Tall, I would wager five to seven stories, and at the top is some strange device."

"Device?" Abell questioned with both interest and worry, mostly the latter.

"Yes. It looked as though they had put a large bowl atop the watch tower. A long pole extends from the center of the bowl and is pointed towards the sky. Every ten seconds a red light glows from a small ball at the tip of the pole, but that was all we could gather about the tower itself." The Wanderer took a moment to take a sip of water from a small cup that had been laid out incase either of them became thirsty.

After putting the cup down Alonne continued, "We sent a scout in closer and she reported back that there were tall fences made of chainmail surrounding the complex. She also caught a glimpse of one of Remnant's own."

The room became deathly silent between the two as Abell nodded his head for Alonne to continue.

"From what she could see, they look just like us physically, but their armor was different and they held strange weapons."

"What did the weapons look like?" Abell asked as he was getting more and more curious of Remnant's humans.

"From what the scout could describe their weapons were long and rectangular in shape, held in two hands, and she even got to see it used on a passing dark boar." Abell said nothing as Alonne retold what his scout had seen of the weapon in use.

"The one holding the weapon aimed it at the dark boar and a large cracking noise was heard, a flash from the front of the weapon, and the dark boar was bleeding from one of its hind legs. She got out of there before she might have been discovered." Alonne finished.

"Good. Make sure that scout gets a larger portion of food tonight for her bravery and for discovering this useful information. You may leave Alonne." Alonne nodded his head and left the tent, leaving Abell to ponder on his next move.

It would be too risky to try and talk with them openly, as he had no idea how they might react and did not wish for his kingdom to be discovered as of yet. Not when they were not ready to fight if mankind on Remnant proved hostile to his kingdom.

Walking over to the map of Hedrikon he looked at the little tower (with a bowl drawn on top) located near the southern west side of the land.

It was time to see how the new additions of his army fared against potential enemies.

…

The sun had set for yet another day, and Remnant's beautiful moon had risen yet again. Abell looked at the shattered moon and wondered what Lordran's own moon had looked like.

' _Would it have been whole, or shattered like you?'_ He mused in his head as he stood within a small clearing surrounded by enough trees to not be seen. The moon shined from above and into his little clearing as he opened three portals.

"Come to me." He said to the three portals cast by the Dark Soul. Within seconds, three of _his_ Grimm appeared. One was the dark bear that had been the first high-class Grimm that he had taken.

Another used to be a high-class dark wolf that he soon captured after he had turned the bear. Last but not least a high-Grimm of one of the small two-legged dark lizards, but this one far larger than even the dark bear as it stood on its two muscled hind legs.

Both the wolf and lizard had been taken and even transformed faster when he had given them a full Humanity sprite instead of a large shard.

Turning away from the taken Grimm, Abell looked up at the glowing red light that just flashed atop the watch tower. The tower had only been a mile away from his current position as he took a deep breath of fresh air.

He whispered, "For the protection and future of Hedrikon and my kingdom, by order of the Ashen Lord I sentence all who reside within that tower to death."

Three white blurs moved at speeds that he could only dream of as they were already gone as soon as the last word had escaped his lips.

Abell couldn't help the smile as the screaming began soon after.

…

Ryan, a recruit of the Atlas military slammed the door shut behind him and barricaded it with every available piece of equipment in the communications tower.

' _How did the Grimm get in?! How did they get past the electric fences?! HOW?!'_ Ryan though frantically to himself as he ran over to the overseer window to look down at the courtyard.

There were flashes of gunfire from all across the courtyard as others assigned to guard the communications tower tried to hit one of the targets.

They came in without warning.

At one moment there was peace and quiet within the tower, the next there were alarms blaring and the _fifty_ guards assigned here were caught unprepared as a Grimm unlike any of them have ever seen before stood in the middle of the courtyard.

An Alpha Creep with a white hide and a few red tipped quills had stood there as it looked at each and every one of them that had positioned themselves on the catwalk above the hangar doors that lead inside, Ryan included.

The only reason none of them had immediately shot the damn abnormal was that they were all stunned by two things: the calm aura that it seemed to be letting off, and how its eyes glowed with a deep _darkness_.

Not a glowing red as other Grimm.

He wished they had shot it, as when the albino Grimm looked directly at Carlos with its black eyes, the lights had gone out around the courtyard. A heavy thud was heard to the right of Ryan as the young recruit turned to look at what caused the disturbance.

Tom and Carla began to scream as something began to attack them from behind.

Ryan was the only one who managed to turn his Atlesian Rifle's built-in flash light on in time to see an albino Ursa Major with half of Carla's body within its too large jaws.

With a loud crunch, the albino Ursa bit off the upper torso and let the legs fall to the ground. Blood covered most of the Ursa's chin and lower jaw as well as a few of Carla's intestines hung from its jaws. He felt like he could have thrown up had Tom not begun to beat the head of the Ursa with the butt of his gun.

It didn't as much as flinch at the blow.

Those around the Ursa began to open fire, but those who turn and ran were the smart ones as it actually shot its same red tipped quills out and into the guards around it.

Ryan had managed to get away through one of the doors that they had entered through, but Hendricks wasn't as lucky as a quill impacted the back of his left shoulder. The quill went right through his shoulder blade and a red and white quill covered in his blood produced from the other side. Ryan was about to open the door for his comrade to help him through, but soon turn and ran as Hendricks began to slam on the door.

Begging to be let in, but failing to notice the large, clawed paw behind him that slammed his head through the door. Ryan had taken one last look behind him, and soon regretted it as he saw Hendricks' half-destroyed (severed) head rolling down the hallway a bit before coming to a stop.

A look of pain and betrayal on the right side of his face as the left had been too broken to recognize. Looking right in Ryan's direction.

"Oh… oh dear god…" Ryan said with disgust as he turned away from the heard of his boot camp friend and ran.

Letting out a sob as he ran for the communications room, Ryan would remember that face on Hendricks for the rest of his life. Which he felt wouldn't be very long.

The flashes of gunfire had begun to die down as one by one, his friends and comrades had been picked off. Soon after, other howls and growls could be out in the forest as other Grimm were being attracted to the compound. As if to add more despair to the situation, Ryan went almost as pale as the albino Grimm.

They shouldn't have been able to get past the electric fence that could fry any Grimm to a crisp. They shouldn't have been able to climb over, as they were too high, or dig under, as they were buried nearly four feet deep.

They shouldn't have been able to _make_ their way over the fence.

From up here Ryan could see almost everything over the compound. Including the large oak tree that had been knocked into the electrical fence, shortening out the power long enough for them to get in.

Shaking the thoughts away, Ryan needed to focus on his (last) objective.

Having reached the main console and activating it, Ryan knew that he had to warn Atlas, or any of the kingdoms, about these new albinos. Flipping a few switches and activating the communications dish, Ryan looked up to see the dish moving towards the east.

So Vale.

It would take far too long to contact Atlas, and he didn't have time to input Vacuo instead as a large banging noise was heard from outside the doors leading inside; to him.

Taking the microphone, as they didn't have the resources to fund this place with video terminals, Ryan hastily spoke what he knew would be his last message to anyone.

"This is Private Ryan Dale of the Atlesian Military! The Grimm have compromised Site B: Communication Tower Beta!" He was screaming into the mic; his voice filled with fear and panic.

*BANG*

His flimsy barricade budged and he could already hear the heavy breathing of that Creep Alpha.

"Do not send reinforcements! I repeat _do not_ send reinforcements! New type of Grimm-"

*BANG*

The barricade would not hold another forceful ram like that and Ryan only had moments before he would be killed.

"White in color, extremely lethal and dangerous, have-" He didn't get to finish as a third and final bang caused the barricade to break apart and Ryan could see the albino Creep in the doorway. Then suddenly the albino Ursa had climbed up through the window and broken in through the left side window, and now stood next to the Creep.

Glass shards covered the room as both monstrosities just stood there and looked at him. The message had been sent, so he could now go down fighting as he lifted his rifle to shoot down the Grimm abominations.

He was about to pull the trigger when a swift motion from a white blur blazed past him. An Alpha Beowolf, also an albino along with the other two, stood to the left of the Creep.

Ryan went to pull the trigger of his gun when he heard nothing. Then he felt nothing in his arms.

Looking down at himself, Ryan could only scream as both his arms had been severed clean off by the Beowolf. Blood was pooling out of him as he back away and into the communication console, knocking off the microphone.

Looking at the floor, he saw his severed arms still holding onto his rifle like they had done just seconds ago.

He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

When he looked at all the albino Grimm through his tear filled eyes, they seemed to be… smiling at him.

Either death was playing with him, or his luck was being a real bitch as the lights just went out. Casting the entire communications room into darkness.

The only source of light came from the glowing red quills that looked like a dozen tiny red eyes staring at him in the dark.

And they drew closer as Ryan could only watch in silent horror as death slowly approached him.

At least he managed to get his message out to Vale.

…

Abell remained in the same spot as his taken Grimm returned with almost no scratches on them, save for the blood that covered them. The watch tower was in flames far off in the distance as he saw the smoke rising towards the shattered moon far up above.

But they didn't come back alone it seemed.

Dozens of lesser Grimm surrounded them; their glowing red eyes showing from the tree line where they hid from his sight.

"Why have they come?"

The taken Ursa lifted its head up slightly and let out a few small growls and puffs, and he understood them.

Abell was still getting used to how the Dark Soul managed to allow him to communicate with the taken Grimm. Of course whatever the Grimm communicated to him were only small sentences at best. Most of the time he could only understand a few words that were grunted, growled, or huffed.

"Dominance? Pack?" He repeated the Ursa's word in his own tongue, and the meaning behind them made him think over the words. Although they had only arrived just barely a month ago, they had spent countless hours observing the Grimm to better understand their enemy.

Or future allies?

But all that research had only led to them to basic information such as how the Grimm that roam in packs have only one higher Grimm among them; such as the high dark wolf that he had recently took. But why would all these lesser Grimm follow his taken ones?

If he recalled correctly, the first dark wolf he experimented on seemed reluctant to accept the small shard of the Dark Soul. Perhaps even fearful of it as Abell remembered the widened red eyes and frantic struggling of the lesser wolf as the shard neared it.

If that were the case then wouldn't these lesser Grimm want to stay away from his taken?

' _Perhaps these Grimm see the full potential of bonding with the Dark Soul after seeing their kin. That one dark wolf just might have not seen the true power that this soul wields within itself, and reacted negative towards it.'_ The Ashen Lord pondered just why these Grimm showed less reluctance towards the soul compared to the dark wolf.

As he pondered his thoughts in silence, a Boarbatusk began to slowly make its way towards the Creep Alpha in an attempt of contact.

The smaller Grimm did not know what was different with its cousin, but it chose to ignore it as it only saw how much _older_ the white hided Grimm had become. Where most Grimm take decades, sometimes centuries, to become an Alpha these ones (already Alphas) had become to what humans would call a "Sentient Grimm".

Those few very rare Grimm that have not only fought and survived through countless centuries against the humans, but the test of time as well.

The Boarbatusk lifted its snout to look over towards the lone human stood at the middle of the clearing. It was… different in a way, but also the same.

It held that same intolerable human stench that all Grimm despised, and even looked like a human. But, it held no light within its soul and seemed empty, but not at the same time. Whatever power had changed the three Alphas into Sentient Grimm, that same power glowed within the human's chest and seemed to be calling to the Boarbatusk as well.

The tiny boar Grimm came a little too close as the Sentient Creep reared its blunt head and gave the boar a low growl. A warning to the smaller Grimm to not tread any closer.

Brought out of his thoughts by the growl Abell lifted his head to look at how the dark boar listened to the taken Grimm and backed away into the tree line. Its small red eyes still glowing and watching in what he assumed was curiosity.

' _Dominance. Then my taken spoke true.'_ Abell concluded in his head as he issued his next order for his taken Grimm to carry out.

"Go to the fallen city. Convince any and all Grimm to follow you and remain there until I arrive." He then opened a portal that would return him to the camps, but he stopped just before entering the dark tare in space and time. "Any that try to attack are to be killed. Any that try and harm my people are to be tortured then killed. Slowly." His tone had grown darker as he walked through the portal and into the Abyss.

He could have sworn that they were smiling at the order as he left.

…

 _ **Two months later…**_

"How go your experiments Grandahl?" Abell asked as he was currently shifting a pile of ashes into a support pillar within what would be his new throne room.

"They are quite the tough ones my Lord. Their will is admirable, but their souls have already been darkened somewhat before they arrived here; which will make the process _much_ easier on these old bones. The muscled brute surprised me though." The dark hexer said while stroking his elongated white beard.

"How so?" Abell asked as he was already halfway finished constructing the sixth and second to last pillar to his throne room. Only the one behind where his new throne would be remained unfinished.

"His soul, out of all of them, was the most tarnished. Like a lantern running only on fumes, but he is the last one that has yet to succumb to your will my Lord. How can a soul such as that resist the Dark Soul for so long?"

"Perhaps it is his determination that allows him to continue to resist. If his spirits don't break within the next two days, then I will deal with him myself." He said with coolness that Grandahl quickly refused.

"No no my Lord! There is no need for your intervention; none at all. I will make sure that his will breaks before dawn." Grandahl rolled up his wheelchair while he said this. Seated only three feet away from Abell, the hexer needed to make sure that his position was secured.

The Ashen Lord slowly turned around, leaving the unfinished pillar having no top. Darkness seemed to surround him as he slowly said in a sinister tone, "Good. I wouldn't want to have to _replace_ my best advisor when our kingdom is almost repaired. Now would I?"

Grandahl showed only a slight frown on the outside, but within he actually felt _fear_ from the man in front of him. Backing his wheelchair away, mindful to keep his features neutral was hard as he answered, "Of course. It will be done my Lord."

The Darkness receded back within his Lord and he turned back to his work without another word.

Grandahl signaled his apprentice, Felkin, to open the heavy black iron great doors that had once been used as a gate to their old home. But now they served as the only entrance to Abell's throne room. The only way through the thick black iron doors was to present a piece of the Dark Soul to it.

However, the master hex user heard a few rumors that Abell had placed a second seal on the door to allow entrance that only he and his Knights of Omen knew of.

Grandahl didn't believe nor cared for the speculated rumors amongst the knights as he and Felkin made their way down towards the dungeons.

For the past two weeks, Grandahl has been trying to get the four Light Bearers (as Tolek had called them) to submit to his Lord's will. The reason was for an infiltration mission that both his Lord and the Fire Witch had concocted when they had last met in person.

Grandahl didn't trust the woman as not only was she a Light Bearer herself (no matter how wicked her soul appeared to be), and that she too reminded him of the Bed of Chaos that had birthed demons towards the end of Gwyn's Age of Fire.

All he knew, or rather was told, was that the four "Hunters" would be infiltrating something known as the "Vytal Festival." He thought that the name suited those that chose to bear the title as they hunted the Grimm of Remnant. As for the festival itself he wasn't sure what to think as the information about it had been little to none.

Both he and Felkin had just got on the carefully crafted stone elevator that hadn't been there when they first arrived at the castle. The elevator (as if sensing the new weight) began its descent towards the dungeons that waited below.

No windows could be crafted into the ancient stone and torches have yet to be added as to allow them to see.

Felkin seemed to enjoy the dark though as he began to silently whisper to himself.

"… Dark, sweet… beautiful Dark… how you embrace me…" Felkin continued to whisper too low for the older man to hear everything, but Grandahl didn't mind his newest apprentice's strange behavior when in complete darkness. Felkin had trouble at first with learning the very basics of using hexes as he came from the Magic Academy and just barely adopted the faith of the Church.

At first glance, he seemed like nothing, even when compared to his peers who too were learning how to properly use hexes. But Grandahl saw something within the boy.

A thirst for darkness that ran unrivaled by the others.

After the boy had produced his first dark orb, a higher level technique then what all of the inexperienced hexers were used to, it had confirmed it for Grandahl. Taking the boy under his wing, Grandahl began to mold him into the perfect hexer.

A soft thud had been heard as the elevator had reached their destination.

The dungeons.

Dark, damp, cold, and where no outside source of light could touch, both master and apprentice approached the four prisoners.

Three of them had already had their will broken, and awaited to be handed off to the Fire Witch. However, one of them still struggled as Grandahl wheeled closer.

"Look whose up. So, young Light Bearer, how shall we proceed today?" He said with pleasure as he hoped that the young man would still be slightly resilient so he could torture him a little bit longer.

The young man had both his wrists chained to the dungeon's wall. They were restrained enough to make any movement uncomfortable and harmful if he kept trying.

The young man himself had a strong build for an upper body, but his muscles looked strained from days of torture and trying to break free. His face had a strong jaw and his hair had normally been kept combed back. However, after days of pain and little to no nourishment, his hair had become somewhat crazed and covered in dirt and sweat; his jaw had become purple and swollen from when Grandahl brought one of the knights down here.

He brought his head up in a dazed manner with a faraway look in his eyes that told Grandahl that he might have finally submitted to his Lord's will.

Cracking a small grin he asked, "Do you yield to the Ashen Lord's will?"

The young man then (slowly) gave him a large, withered smile. "I don't know…" His voiced was cracked, strained, and dry. "Does an Ursa wear a tutu?"

Grandahl's grin turned into a larger one as he propped up an arm up onto his seat and rested a hand against his cheek before saying, "Felkin, show our guest the beauty of true Dark."

The young apprentice seemed to get excited at this as he quickly brought out his chime and rushed over to the prisoner. Placing the chime to the Light Bearer's chest, Felkin began to say with pure joy, "Oh you will just love what the Dark has to show you. He Heh ha ha ha HA!"

The apprentice began to incite an old incantation that had the young man screaming within minutes.

…

 _ **Later that night…**_

His throne sat facing towards the black iron doors that allowed entrance into his chambers.

The throne itself sat in the far back of the chamber. Stretching nearly as long as the hallway leading to the Dragonslayer and Executioner, Abell's throne sat atop a small flight of stairs. Designing his throne after his old one, with the only difference being that the seventh pillar loomed above him.

Each pillar holding a golem sized statue of a Black Knight, with each holding a Black Knight sword facing the ground. The one behind him was larger than the other six and held the Black Knight Greatsword facing down; with the base meeting the back of his throne.

He added the balcony behind the throne towards the back of the chamber gave the castle the feeling of his own home. He had added many things that reminded him of Lordran and what had been his kingdom's home for those three long years.

Standing at the balcony, Abell had a glorious view of the shattered moon along with the lands surrounding it. Small torchlight's could be seen off in the distance as the nightly patrols kept to their duties.

"Perhaps this world- AAAAUUUuugggghhh!" He cried out in extreme agony.

He fell to the ground and began clutching at his chest feeling as if his very soul were being tightly squeezed by an invisible force. The pain was excruciating as he could already hear the black iron doors slowly begin to unlock.

It was as though something that had been a part of him had detached and faded away, but only to be replaced by something better.

The doors were unlocked and began to slowly open as the seal released the hold on the door. Two members of the Old Guard were pushing the doors open to make the process faster and as soon as enough space was available, both Alonne and Aulnor sprinted to the back of the chamber with swords at the ready.

The pain had begun to dull somewhat, but remained as he tried to stand up and failed.

Both of his two Knights of Omen were beside him in an instant when they arrived. Each pulling him up and leaning him against the railing of the balcony. Coughing and wheezing as though he were a dying old man, Alonne spoke first, "My Lord are you alright!? What happened?"

Coughing a few more times and managing to slow his breathing down to a normal pace Abell finally found his voice again.

"I believe *cough* that it is time to bring our Sentinel home." He answered in a dark tone and began to chuckle slightly which only caused the two generals to look at one another in confusion.

Each wondering just what had taken hold over their Lord just now.

* * *

 **So yeah. Abell's POV. Never thought you'd see it from his perspective again did ya? Well I thought that it was time that he got to be in the spotlight again. Stop hogging it Tyrell geez XD**

 **Well a few things to discuss here. First off, before any of you out there talk about how OP the new Grimm are, there isn't going to be many of them, because in the RWBY verse there aren't all that many Alpha or Major Grimm except for a few Ursa Majors and one Beowolf that were seen in the show. Also, these Grimm that have achieved sentient level, have had to already have been an older Alpha/Major in order to fully bond with the Dark Soul. I guess Abell just got lucky in obtaining three :P**

 **So the time period where this chapter ends takes place right before the Vytal Festival. The reason I did this chapter in multiple timeskips was that Abell can't have his kingdom living in tents for the rest of their lives, so I took the opportunity to show parts of how far along his kingdom has come in the last few months before the festival. There is a progression going on between each timeskip, but we'll be rewinding back a few months in the next chapter.**

 **Which may or may not cover the Breach, but I haven't decided yet. Most likely going to save that for Ch. 18 rather than Ch. 17.**

 **A couple of last things to say, this is the turn of the story from rated 'T' to 'M'. New character Felkin introduced, and just who are these prisoners you may ask? Well that will be covered after the Breach. So expect the next three to four chapters to be covering the end of Volume 2.**

 **P.S.- To 'Thaqif': I actually have never watched Fairy Tale before, but have been told by a friend to check it out so I may in the future. If I like it enough then I might consider writing one.**

 **To 'Mr Fizz': SSSSSHHHHHH! Spoilers man! But they may/may not make an appearance in this fic. Volume 3 is kinda going all over the place and I would like to see more of them in action to see how powerful they are. But I am definitely thinking on it.**

 **P.S.S.- I couldn't respond to either of you for some odd reason. Something to do with the site I think. So here are your answers to your Qs. Sorry for the delay as I forgot to include them in the Christmas Special. My bad :/**


	17. Chapter 17

**Well things are definitely getting interesting (and dark) in Volume three, but I won't spoil for those who haven't had the chance yet to watch it. I also want to mention that I have moved both specials into their own "story" labeled "DS X RWBY Specials." From now on that is where both holiday specials and small ideas will go from now on. Can be found on my profile, so if you haven't read them yet then I suggest you do after you read this chapter ;)**

 **Also, I apologize in advance for having used more dialogue from the show.**

 **So let's get to it shall we?**

* * *

 _ **Fall from Grace: Part I**_

"Today we stand together, united." Headmaster Ozpin began, starting his speech for the newly arrived students from the other combat schools of the four kingdoms. Tyrell, along with both Peter and Bart, stood to the right of Ozpin as he addressed the students' kingdoms; as Glynda stood on the man's left side.

"Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant." Naming each individual kingdom aloud, Tyrell observed each 'pack' of students.

Mistral's Haven academy all wore a uniform similar to that of Beacon's own, but with a change of color with both dark green and grey. The Atlas academy students were different compared to either Beacon or Haven.

Each student stood at attention, with their hands placed behind their backs, shoulders back, and chins up as they all kept their focus on the Beacon's Headmaster.

' _Are these students or soldiers?'_ He pondered as his gaze shifted over towards the last new 'pack' that had arrived earlier this morning. He was surprised at how little the Shade academy students seemed to care about proper uniform. Many wore what looked like casual clothing as far as he could tell, and some even looked bored as he caught one Faunus boy dozing off.

It seemed that not many of the students have yet to get to know one another as of yet, and the result was for each student from their own kingdom to remain with their normal classmates.

Peter gave a small sigh at the sight. The knight just assumed that the man must not have liked to see the kingdoms divided, despite though it was only the students separating themselves. Giving the portly man a small nudge to the ribs to grab his attention, Tyrell gave him a small smile to let him know that things would get better between the students.

Nodding his head in silent thanks for the kind reassurance both focused their attention back on Ozpin.

"On this day, nearly eighty years ago. The largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, greed, and oppression. A war that was about much more, than where borders fell, or who traded with whom. But about the idea of individualism itself."

The room had grown quiet as the Headmaster said this.

That was a piece of history that he would have to ask Bart to inform him about at a later time.

"We fought for countless reasons. One of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. And, as you are all well aware, that was something that many could not stand for." The man took a short breath and, for a moment, shut his eyes before opening them and continuing. "As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began to name their children after one of the core aspects of art itself. Color."

When he had said that a few students from Beacon smiled including Jaune and Ruby.

"It was their way to show that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but the generations to follow afterwards as well. And a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity."

"As I have said, today we stand together united. But this bond cannot survive without effort. Which is why, today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace; Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. But, no matter which path you choose remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

All of the students began to applaud the Headmaster's speech along with the staff. Soon after, all the students began leaving the auditorium in one large herd as both Tyrell and Oobleck made their way towards the cafeteria.

"So explain to me again what our assignment is again Bart?"

The ever energetic history professor 'zipped' out of existence for not even a second before coming back right in front of him. "Why Tyrell I'm surprised at you! Our assignment is quite simple really." Zipping a few feet away he continued, "We are to look after a team of students as they complete the mission that they will have chosen that are provided."

"And I am coming along to assist you I presume?"

Right in front of him faster than the knight could blink the fast doctor excitedly replied, "Of course! It will be wondrous to have someone along for the ride. Not that I don't mind interacting with the students, but it will make the trip easier to talk to one more open minded about history." A smile formed on Tyrell's face as he chuckled at the doctor's antics.

"Well the students must be quite a handful if they are sending two of us, even though I am only an assistant."

Quickly nodding his head in agreement Oobleck said, "Agreed. Now, onwards to the cafeteria. I can hardly deal with anyone, let alone students, without my coffee."

Tyrell chuckled as the two of them made haste towards their destination.

' _I wonder which team Bart and I will be paired with?'_ He thought as he made a note in his mind to go and fetch his Greatbow and arrows after lunch.

…

"I wonder what Huntsman we'll be paired up with." The young reaper wondered aloud to her teammates as they had just applied for one of the 'Search and Destroy' missions provided. They hadn't been granted permission for a higher ranking mission until Professor Ozpin came by and allowed it.

"Well it won't really matter as we'll have already given them the slip by night to nab us some baddies." Yang said enthusiastically to her team.

"You dunce! Of course it will matter! There's no doubt that they'll take notice not even before we have time to 'give them the slip'." The young Schnee pointed out which deflated Yang a bit as she hadn't thought of that. "Whoever they are, we'll need to conduct a plan first before we even attempt to go searching for the White Fang."

"She's right." Blake agreed which caused all of them to stare at her. "She is?" Both Yang and Ruby asked in union.

"Of course I am." Weiss followed up with a smirk to the two sisters.

"Yes. We need to get a proper reading on whoever we're shadowing before we begin our search. Remember, we'll be under the watch of a fully trained Huntsman with no doubt countless years of experience and skill. We should be careful." Blake finished.

They were walking across the school's main campus before someone shouted out, "Hey, team CFVYs back!"

They all turned their heads to where a gathering of students was forming around the now returned second year team. Walking over to join the small crowd, Yang spotted Velvet and called out to her.

"Hey Vel over here!"

The bunny ears atop her head perked up slightly at the sound of her name as Velvet noticed Yang and the rest of team RWBY as she then approached. "Hey guys. How have you all been doing?"

"Oh you know, just training how to become awesome Huntresses and all that." Ruby said in her normal happy tone.

"Well that's good to hear Ruby." Velvet said, giving the younger girl a smile.

"So Velvet, what took you and team CFVY so long to get back from your mission? You were supposed to return three days ago." Weiss asked before quickly adding with some concern, "Did anything happen?"

Waving off the concern she replied, "No nothing bad happened." Her smile faded to a tiny frown as she recalled her mission, "The Grimm, there was just so many. More than we were expecting so it took us longer to complete our mission."

The worried expressions and frowns from the first year team caused her to quickly try to remove any concern or doubt. "Oh, but that's nothing that you first years will have to worry about. You'll just be shadowing a Huntsman. As long as you stay with them you won't have anything to worry about."

It was then that Coco, her team leader, was waving at her to grab her attention. "Well I got to go you guys, good luck on your mission and be safe." With that farewell the bunny Faunus quickly made her way back over towards her teammates.

"We can do this. We've never backed down from a challenge before, and we're not going to start now." Ruby said giving her team that small boost of confidence to wash away any last minute nervousness.

"Right." Blake agreed as she folded her arms and gave her leader a smile.

Looking at each of her teammates Ruby with enthusiasm, "And besides, it won't only be us out there. We'll be fighting alongside a genuine Huntsman!"

"Yeah!" Yang agreed with a quick nod of her head.

…

"Well hello there girls." Oobleck greeted as both he and Tyrell had been waiting the last five minutes for their assigned team to come to the docks. There was an airship waiting for them a little ways back as the Sentinel took in their expressions.

"Who's ready to fight for their lives?" The excited Doctor asked with a smile.

He couldn't help but laugh aloud at how genuinely stunned they each seemed to be in Oobleck's presence.

"What exactly what were you four expecting?" He asked with a bemused grin as he could have heard them mumble something. It sounded something like "a cool Hunter," or along those lines.

"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss had asked in silent horror. Her eyes moving up and down as she was no doubt making observations of his rather odd attire.

"Ty?" Yang raised a single brow as she too seemed confused by the two professors in front of them. Giving a short bow he proceeded to say, "At your service Ms. Xiao Long."

"I'm afraid you won't need those bags girls as you have officially signed up to shadow a Huntsman on what will be classified as a necessary recon mission." The man was pacing back and forth as if addressing four new squires. "As we will not be setting up a single base of operation; rather we'll be traversing several miles of treacherous wasteland, and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon."

Taking a quick breath… he continued.

"I have packed all of our necessary essentials myself, plotted the air course, and have readied the airship. And…" Quickly appearing right in front of Weiss's vision he repeated for what must have been the tenth time that day, "It's DoctorOobleck. I didn't earn a PhD for fun thank you _very_ much."

"Uhh…" The heiress seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Come now children, and assistant-professor; according to my planned out schedule, we're already three minutes behind… schedule!" In a sudden burst of speed that could give Ruby a run for her lien, Oobleck appeared in front of the small transport airship.

"Well girls, it looks like we'll be saving the world with Doctor Oobleck and Professor Tyr- yeah it sounds worse when you say it aloud." Ruby along with her team, all lowered their heads in disappointment at the thought. Giving a short cough to alert them that he was still there, they all quickly looked up with a look of embarrassment. "N-not that we mind that profe- Tyrell!" Ruby tried sparing his pride as the Sentinel just sighed and gestured for them to get moving.

Walking ahead to get himself situated in the airship, Tyrell couldn't help but feel conflicted over what has been bothering him over the last week.

He has been helping Vale, an entirely foreign kingdom to him, for nearly an entire month now. Whether it was sparring with the students at Beacon, helping to assess form and skill, or assisting Peter in trying to catch a live Grimm for his class; he couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.

While he was sent here and instructed to stay here (for now) by Abell, that was all he had been left with. Just orders to stay at Beacon and nothing more.

Trying to yield any information out of Cinder had proved futile as the witch had only told him to continue to "play his part." He should have known better than to expect any actual help from her.

His last contact with Abell had been weeks ago. The only information he had received was that they had arrived upon the same night the dance was held if the dates matched up. Casualties followed shortly after as Grimm had been drawn to their location and battle ensured.

Tyrell felt horrible that he wasn't there to assist his fellow brothers and sisters in arms in the fight, but what made a chill go down his spine was what Abell said about the aftermath.

" _Only a few hundred were lost to the dark beasts…"_ That was what he had said about his knights that had fallen to fight for their place on Remnant. He hasn't received any more news regarding their progress since that last conversation. Even when he tried to make connection through the sprite he still carried around with him, it wouldn't connect him to Abell.

Both worry and dread began to set into the back of his mind over what might have happened to his fellow countrymen as he neared the airship.

" _Only_. _"_ The wind seemed to whisper in his ear, a voice in the back of his mind echoing it. It just didn't sit right with him as he made it over to the good doctor.

The man seemed impatient as he sat in one of the seats available for about a second before rushing and sitting in a different one in the blink of an eye. He constantly switched from seat to seat at a blurring speed before rushing past Tyrell and shouting out, "Four minutes ladies!"

Slowly walking past the now standing Sentinel, Oobleck said, "No wonder students like that are always late to class. Always talking with their peers!"

"Well it's always good to say your farewells before departing on a journey Bart. You never know if you'll get the opportunity again." He didn't need an answer from the Doctor as, even behind those glasses, he already knew that the man in front of him experienced what it was like to never get that same opportunity again.

Both keeping a fixed stare at the other Oobleck soon sighed before nodding in agreement. "You are right my friend. Farewells are always important, especially for the life of a Huntsman, but" The man's eyes softened somewhat and his tone grew lighter as he continued, "they may also serve as a promise to never return to the ones that he or she cares for."

"Well, I suppose that it's up to experienced lads like you and I to make sure that these young ones _do_ make it back to their loved ones." Tyrell finished off with a small smile towards Oobleck before it was returned.

"Right you are again Tyrell." Just then the sounds of boots walking over cobblestone approached as team RWBY had finally arrived.

A brown and white blur flashed past the knight as Oobleck soon began to scold the girls about being "six minutes late now."

…

They had been flying towards their destination as Tyrell gave a brief glace out of the _open_ side doors to the ground far below. He wish he hadn't as he grew nauseous at the sight. From what he did see, they flew over what appeared to be tall, partially destroyed buildings.

' _These flights are going to be the death of me one day.'_ He thought to himself as he focused his attention back to his companions for this mission.

He was the only one sitting and strapped into his seat as Oobleck explained the mission to Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake.

"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabbling in the archeological surveys; our dear Headmaster thought it best to assign me to this particular assignment." Oobleck said as he adjusted his glasses.

"What exactly does history have to do with this mission?" Weiss asked skeptically while placing her free hand on her hip. The Doctor looked shocked as he reared on the young heiress and getting up in her face.

"What a preposterous question you silly girl. Why, history makes up the _very_ backbone of our society! And the liver!" All of them fixed the Doctor with an odd look as he even added in, "Most likely the kidneys as well if I were to wager."

"And that means?" The confused heiress asked as all of them wanted to know what exactly he meant.

"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is full of wild forests and deep caves, but it is also home to one of the kingdom's greatest failures." Before he could clarify what lied in the southeast, Ruby beat him to it.

"Mountain Glenn." Tyrell fixed her with a curious look as he asked, "What happened?"

"It was an expansion of Vale in an effort to take back some of the territory taken in by the Grimm over time." Yang clarified as a downcast expression crossed her features. "But in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city."

"Were there no Hunters there to protect it?" The knight asked as he took this new information in. Ozpin had only informed him of where he would be going and with whom, and Bart decided that he would rather let him experience the abandoned city rather than spoil it; mentioning something about a "learning experience for both teacher and student".

"Correct Yang, but wrong Tyrell. Hunters were indeed present to help protect the workers and citizens, but without Vale's natural walls to protect them they were soon overrun. Now it stands as a dark reminder to all the rest of Vale." Oobleck corrected his assistant as the knight nodded his head in understanding.

"And a likely place for a hideout." Blake theorized as Oobleck smiled at the girl for her sharp thinking.

"There had been a place similar to this Mountain Glenn from my village." None asked him further about it as they had soon arrived at their destination.

The airship landed close enough to allow them to only fall a short distance to the ground. The girls leapt off and were the first to land, closely followed by both professors.

All of team RWBY stood in a ready fighting stance upon landing as they expected to be ambushed by Grimm as soon as they landed.

Tyrell saw none within his vision, but remained on guard just in case. However, the sight of what must have once been a promising city lay in ruins all around them. It reminded him of when he had visited the New Londo ruins once with Aulnor on one of the Demon's moodier days.

There were crumbling buildings that reached towards the sky, frames of structures stood amongst the ruins as they were abandoned. Broken windows, empty streets, and the almost near silence really sold Mountain Glenn as a ghost town. Even a few tumbleweeds rolled by, as if an extra effect to add to the landscape before them.

"All clear." Ruby assessed as she and the rest of her team lowered their weapons at the sight of no Grimm.

"Well girls, as of this official moment your first official mission as Huntresses has begun. From this point forward you need to do exactly as I or Tyrell say. Understand?" He was met by four silent nods as a result before he specifically faced the young red hooded leader.

"Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all bags back at Beacon?" Indeed, she still lugged around a rather large bag that seemed to be filled to the brim. Oobleck waited for her excuse as to why she hadn't followed his orders.

' _Was that... movement?'_ He thought to himself as he could have sworn that the bag had just shifted a bit without Ruby moving herself.

"But, uh, neither you nor Tyrell ever told us to listen to either of you yet… so I didn't." She said, giving him a shrug. Tyrell noticed the displeased looks on both Weiss and Yang as they both placed a hand against their face at their unpredictable leader's action.

"She's not wrong…" Oobleck mumbled, thinking to himself about all the ways on how Ruby was both correct and incorrect as Tyrell mentioned to Blake, "I'm going to go on and scout ahead. I'll regroup with you all once I've finished." The raven haired teen understood as she placed her attention back onto Ruby, who was whispering to a small dog that he'd never seen before.

Feeling the need to explore his new surroundings, the Sentinel proceeded onwards into the forgotten city.

After walking away from the rest and out of sight Tyrell found the eerie silence to be somewhat peaceful. Within Beacon there seemed to never be a dull moment, from the sparring to hunting down the Grimm, Tyrell always had something to keep him occupied. But, it was nice to get away from it all for a little bit and seek solace in a quiet area such as the library.

He had passed by what must have been a food store as a slightly smashed sign displaying a burger layed out on the ground. Electrical wires were strewn about and over the sign as he made sure to avoid them in case they still proved dangerous.

He wasn't surprised at the now familiar sounds of Beowolf claws scratching against concrete. He was surprised, however, at the sheer _number_ of the dark wolves that stood behind him. Around fifteen to twenty total, if he counted correctly, surrounded him. All with various pieces of bone plated armor, and all sharing the same bone white mask and red eyes.

' _How did they all find me so fast? I made sure to keep as silent as possible and avoided venturing too far away from the others.'_ The Sentinel thought to himself as he made sure to keep his shield raised and silver sword drawn.

They had cut off his escape and path that would lead back to RWBY and the Doctor, and had spread themselves out so they covered more possible escape routes. Backed against the wall of the food store, Tyrell knew that he would have to fight his way out if he were to see tomorrow.

They were still at least ten feet away, so that gave him time to pull out his Greatbow and line an arrow up before the first Beowolf pounced.

It didn't get far as the same titanite tipped arrows that pierced through dragon hide, shredded the fur covered body. The momentum of the arrow even carried the Beowolf back a few feet, crashing into one of its brethren. He managed to load up and fire one more arrow towards another wolf that had gotten a little too close as the arrow entered through the scalp of its head.

Tearing past the fur, skin, and then brain, Tyrell watched as a sickening wet crunch emitted from the arrow plowing past the head and into the dead wolf's spine. Split down the middle, he could see its entrails and organs that gushed crimson red blood all over the cracked pavement.

He didn't have long to marvel at the work of the arrow as he narrowly avoided blocking a side-swipe from another Beowolf to his right. Hitting the durable steel Greatbow instead of his shoulder, he held the bow with his left hand while swinging out at the beast with his sword.

It managed to draw some blood from the Beowolf, but with the confined space it did little more than give it a small cut.

Kicking out at one of the wolf's knees, hoping to make it lose its balance, Tyrell watched in displeasure as his kick did nothing to the wolf. Not able to hold it off much longer in this state, Tyrell got right up in the wolf's guard in a sudden rush.

The Beowolf seemed surprised at this move as it gave him a single second opportunity to plunge his sword right into its abdomen. And before it could swipe at him, he brought up his blade up the abdomen, cutting through it like wax.

Kicking the wolf off of his blade quickly, Tyrell placed his Greatbow upon his back before bringing up his shield. Three wolves were trying to attack him now as he back stepped away from a few slashes meant for his chest. Parrying a swipe and riposting right after, Tyrell was satisfied when the wolf fell to its knees before removing his sword.

It was short lived as the felt four claws dig into his back.

The small brown cape was torn and ripped apart as his armor took the bulk of the damage, but he could still feel a little bit of warm liquid running down his back.

Spinning around so fast that it caught the wolf by surprise, the knight beheaded the beast in one fell swoop as its head landed with a wet thud. Another joined the fight as two were now trying to get behind his guard.

Rolling out of the way caused his back to ache in a way that he hadn't felt in years. He was slow to get up, and it cost him as both wolves ran by him and launched two large swipes at him. He felt it a second later as the right shoulder plate had been scratched and his lower left leg had also been cut.

Thankfully they hadn't gotten past his armor with those fast attacks, but he would have to avoid rolling unless he wanted to die.

One of the Beowolf's, the one on the left, growled and rushed at him; running on both hind legs with one claw ready to tear into his throat, Tyrell two-handed his sword and waited.

Just before it would dig into his Adam's apple, Tyrell ducked and ran forward before slashing open the wolf's side. More blood covered the ground as well as his back as the Grimm fell. He felt the thick, warm substance running down his back; even mixing with the cuts along his back which stung like hell.

Gritting his teeth to fight off the pain, the other Beowulf howled to its brothers to all join it to kill him. The remaining wolves echoed the howl as they all circled the knight. Around nine to ten remained still, and Tyrell knew that his only option was to carve a path through their ranks and escape to the others.

"Come on you bastards." He said through heavy breathing as a wolf in front of him lashed out only to hit his shield, but it left his back exposed as two wolves carved into both metal and flesh. He only grunted as he quickly turned to cut at them, but only managed to graze one of their chests.

More of the wolves attacked from all sides as he tried to block and attack as many times as he weakening body could make. He actually took down about four more before one had slashed at his left calf. Breaking past the metal and tearing through the muscle, Tyrell finally let out a small yell at the pain that exploded from the wound.

Having to kneel down on one knee, Tyrell looked up with both defiance and fear into the red eyes of what must have been the pack leader. It stood a bit taller than the others and held the most boned plates he had seen out of all the pack.

He felt himself begin to go numb in his left leg from the blood loss, but cold as well all over his body. But it wasn't from the blood loss or even the smoldering red eyes of the pack leader as it raised a single claw, ready to finish him off.

No, it was the fear that he held within him, his fear of actual death that awakened this cold. It was ironic he supposed, an Undead who has died more than anyone could ever think possible who's fear was of _actual_ death. He was not ready to face death, not today.

The numbing cold spread all over and a cool calmness eased himself as well as, in the blink of an eye, the pack leader's raised arm (about to have cut his head off) had been severed. The beast howled in both surprise and pain as the human actually _rose_ from what had been a crippling wound.

Placing most of the weight on his still goof leg, Tyrell grasped the sword hilt with both hands and angled the blade to face the angered pack leader.

In a movement not possible for one in his condition, the pack leader didn't have time to blink as Tyrell severed its head from the rest of its body. The head fell to his feet with the body soon to follow as the remaining four wolves charged all at once.

Even with the killing calm over his body, he wasn't able to hold it for long as his vision began to darken. He felt a great weight grow heavy on his torn back as his knees began to bend down from the invisible weight. Or maybe one of the Beowolves had already attached itself to him and was tearing out what remained of his armor before reaching his back.

He was still standing when he actually lost consciousness. The last thing he heard was a primal roar that sounded unlike anything he had heard before.

Then everything went dark.

…

"How do you think he's doing?" Yang asked concerned as she, along with Weiss and Blake looked at the sleeping knight where they had set him up near the fire. They hadn't taken his armor off (ordered by Oobleck) as he said that it would have disturbed him. If Yang didn't know better, she would have said that he looked comfortable sleeping in that silver armor.

After Tyrell left to go and scout ahead, they were left behind with Oobleck to begin searching the city ruins for any sign of the White Fang. Of course they found nothing as of yet, but when things were just getting boring for her, Yang was excited to kill a pack of Beowolves that had appeared.

It was a large pack, but nothing they couldn't handle as they were easy to handle. But it was only when Ruby spotted twenty or so leave the battle to go somewhere else did they all remember their professor that only had armor to protect him. No aura.

Blake had heard the two shots from his Greatbow soon after and made mention of it. They started making their way towards him before running as they heard the multiple howls of Beowolves echo throughout the air.

Both Oobleck and Ruby had arrived there first as they had came upon the fallen knight. He had been surrounded by at least seventeen still decaying Beowolves, but had slaughtered them all in a way that made her little sister cringe a little. One Beowolf had been split right down the middle along its back by just _one_ of his arrows.

When they found Tyrell he had been covered in scratches, but they were along his armor and cape only. Where claw marks were along his lower back, there was only skin; no cuts or indication that there had been any injury at all. The armor protecting his left calf had been punctured all the way through, but again they didn't find any injury or indication that there was one.

But there were two things that had left all of them stumped for the rest of the evening.

The first was that there shouldn't have been anyway for Tyrell to have fought off fifteen to twenty Grimm without getting a single scratch armor or not; especially since he didn't have his aura unlocked.

Which lead to the other thing which even confused Doctor Oobleck.

So how could he have healed that fast without having his aura unlocked?

Doctor Oobleck said that they would figure it all out later once they've returned to Beacon.

"I don't know, but what do you think happened Blake?" Weiss asked as she sat up on her sleeping bag and faced their Faunus teammate.

"I… don't know either. After I heard his bow shots, I just assumed that he had found a few Grimm. After the howls I knew that there must have been more." She took a quick glance over towards Tyrell's sleeping form. "But there's no way that he could have faced down twenty Beowolves, with his aura locked, and come out of it without a single scratch."

Yang and Weiss nodded their heads in agreement as Oobleck came down from his perch up above.

"If he isn't woken up by tomorrow, then I will arrange for a Bullhead to come and take him back to Beacon." Oobleck had done a check-up on his comrade after they had found him, only to find that he was just sleeping and didn't need a doctor.

"Once he's taken care of, we will resume our mission girls. Understand?" Tired nods from the rest of them as Oobleck added "Now put out that fire and try to get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Jumping back atop his perch without another word, the girls all took one last glance at their professor before trying to fall asleep.

…

" _No King Crumb. I couldn't possibly eat another dozen cookies…"_ Dream Ruby said in her head as she was having a pleasant dream about going to the Cookie Kingdom; eating to her heart's content. However, that dream was cut short as she woke up startled by a small bark from Zwei.

Opening her eyes to check on her precious dog Ruby sleepily commanded, "Zwei go to back to sleep, it's late." Taking a short yawn the young reaper tried to return to the land of milk and cookies. That was before Zwei decided to run off. "Zwie? Zwei!"

Getting up to chase after the little Corgi, Ruby quietly stood up to run after the dog. Looking between the sleeping Weiss and Blake, and Yang, whom took over her watch earlier, she sighed in frustration as she chased after Zwei. Grabbing hold of Crescent Rose she quickly made herself scarce as she did a half run/walk past the two sleeping professors.

Eventually making her way down to the bottom floor of the building they took shelter in; Ruby silently peered out of the doorway and looked to the street just outside.

"Zwei? Zwei where did you go?" She called out as she continued to look around for him. She soon spotted the Corgi standing behind a pole with his leg raised up to the side.

' _A potty brake. Of course.'_ Ruby thought to herself as she approached Zwei which she then gave him a roll of her eyes before saying, "Zwei this is a wasteland; you literally could have done that anywhere."

The Corgi tilted his head to the side a little as if saying, _'I knew that, so I chose there.'_ Ruby giggled at just how cute their dog could be sometimes. As far as she could remember Zwei had always been there for both her and Yang, even when their father was depressed about losing Summer.

He gave her a playful bark in response when she went to pick him up, but she soon heard a voice out in the distance ask, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" A second voice asked in an annoyed tone.

Ruby, while still holding Zwei close to her, crouched behind one of the concrete corners of the building that Zwei had just marked. Peering ever so slightly over to get a look at who was talking, she had to bite down on a gasp to prevent the two patrolmen from hearing her.

Each clad in a White Fang uniform, she quickly knew that these two were only grunts. With a silent sigh of relief she leaned a little closer to hear them better.

"I don't know man, sounded like a Beowolf or something." The guard on the left answered.

The one on the right let out a small growl as he said, "Let's just get our patrol done and get back to base. Being in this place makes my skin crawl."

Both patrolmen slowly walked away as Ruby quickly looked around for another hiding spot to follow the two Faunus. Putting Zwei down and prepping her weapon in case things came down to a fight, Ruby used her semblance to run from pillar to pillar as she quickly (but silently) trailed the two guards.

"Man, it's like every other week now more and more humans show up." Left guard said aloud.

Right guard nodded his head in agreement as he said, "Like Torchwick's new assistant? That girl gives me the creeps man. Always looking at us in that _special_ way of hers; like we're some kind of plaything for her to break."

"Ugh I know what you mean Collin. But the one in the black armor is like ten times creepier. Always following Torchwick around, never says anything to anyone even when spoken to, and his _eyes_ man! Have you seen them?!"

Ruby, still listening in behind a cracked wall, took both pieces of information in as she saw Collin shake a little.

"Don't even get me started on him Sean. I could have sworn I saw him sneak away into some dark cavern in the cave one time." Collin proclaimed as Sean asked, "Did you see what he did?"

Collin shook his head just before they both entered the double doors that would lead them to the underground base. "No, but when I got just a little bit closer, I would bet money that he actually was speaking to someone."

"Do you know who?" Sean asked surprised at the thought, as he opened the unlocked door and they then both entered through.

"I thought I heard him say-" The rest was muffled by the now closed door as Ruby placed Zwei around the corner and asked, "Did they go in? One bark means yes." A clicking sound could be faintly heard as the doors were locked from the inside.

The Corgi gave the all clear with just one bark as Ruby excitedly jumped up from her crouched position and loudly whispered, "Oh this is it! This is it!" Pulling out her Scroll to signal her team about her discovery, she was soon met with a low signal warning as the reaper sighed before starting to walk off.

"Come on Zwei, we need to get the others."

She had only walked a few feet when she felt a sudden surge around her. Dust rose up from her feet and Ruby felt a little bit shorter for some reason. "Huh?" Looking down she noticed the cobwebbed crack spreading out and around her from where her feet met the ground.

Soon large chunks of street began falling down towards the earth and Ruby just barely managed to grab hold onto the edge of the street and Zwei; saving the Corgi from a fateful plunge. When she looked down past him, she saw only a bottomless abyss that waited to swallow her whole.

Throwing the (thankfully) light Zwei over her and onto the still stable street, he soon got as close as he could to try and help her. If only she had Crescent Rose with her then she could get out of this predicament, but her weapon layed a few feet away on the street.

Before she could even try and lift herself up, the piece of street she held onto gave in and fell into the maw of the abyss beneath it.

Taking her along with it.

She fell for what felt like only twenty to thirty feet. Maybe more, but she couldn't tell as she thought she was falling towards her death.

Hitting something solid caught her by surprise as she was now laying down on some hard surface.

Luckily her aura took most of the damage, but now her back was sore from the plunge as she slowly sat herself up.

She was in a cave of sorts beneath the city, but what surprised her more was the fact that there was a city beneath the city! Skyscraper buildings stood beneath the city above, some still with only their skeletal frames sat unfinished, but mostly the same as the city above.

Once she pried her eyes away from the underground city, she checked herself over for any injuries. Finding none, she was about to try and find a way out when the sound of a door slamming open was heard behind her.

She had to cover her eyes to avoid being blinded by the white light that illuminated the dark roof of the building she stood atop of.

"Freeze!" Sean shouted as both he and Collin aimed their rifles at the intruder.

"Where did she come from?" Collin asked in a gruff tone as they inched closer and closer to her. She tried backing away, but narrowly avoided from taking another plunge off of the roof. One that would have ended in her being a red stain on the floor.

"You're a long way from home, little girl." Sean said as they were now only a few feet away. Ruby instinctively felt to where Crescent Rose would normally be, but it dawned on her that it was still up above where she left Zwei.

Collin grabbed her by the wrist as she fought and tried to get out of his much stronger grasp. "Hands off!" She shouted as she used her free fist to punch him right in the abdomen.

It did nothing.

' _Definitely need to drink more milk after this.'_ She promised to herself as Collin reared his own free fist and brought it forward. _'That is if I survive!'_ That was her last thought as she felt the full force of the punch connect with her cheek. Again her aura protected her from some of the damage, but most was absorbed by falling down here in the first place.

Feeling herself hitting the ground Ruby slowly drifted off into unconsciousness as she heard Sean, or was it Collin, say "Torchwick is gonna love this." That was all she heard as Collin walked up to her and the last she saw was his boot coming right at her face.

…

' _Wh-what happened?'_ He thought as he was slowly coming back to the world of the living. The last he remembered was that primal scream that pierced his eardrums, that along with- "The wolves!" He wheezed out as he sat upright and alert to the shocked presence of Yang, Weiss, Blake, and Oobleck.

"Why Tyrell are you alright?" Oobleck inquired as he came over in the blink of an eye to check him as if he were injured.

"I'm fine Bart, but what of the Beowolves that had me surrounded?" He asked with a confused look on his face. The Doctor must not have seen it as he just realized that his helmet, along with the rest of his armor, had been kept on him.

"There will be time for that later Tyrell. I'm afraid something dire has happened to young Ruby. We were about to head out to go find, and possibly if need be, rescue her." The fast speaking man explained before rushing over to the girls and saying, "Get your weapons ready ladies! It's time to go on a rescue mission."

"I'm coming too." Tyrell stated as he stood up and went to go grab his own weapons. Which were thankfully placed against the same wall that he was resting against.

"Are you sure you're up for it?" Weiss asked as she seemed to look at him with both concern and… something else.

"Of course I am. I feel perfectly fine as of this moment. Why do you ask?" His voice was a little worried as he was unsure what state they had found him in prior to his waking.

Each of them shared a worried glance, which only served to further his own worries as he finished securing his shield to his left arm. Sheathing his sword and placing his Greatbow upon his back, Tyrell assured them again that he was fine and that they need not worry about his health.

Again that same shared glance of worry, but Oobleck snapped them out of it by saying, "Very well then. All of you, it's time to go save one of Beacon's own."

…

Consciousness slowly came back to the young reaper as she felt herself being dragged around by two strong grips.

Taking the time to look around, she saw what looked like some sort of mining operation happening beneath Mountain Glenn. A few Atlas Paladins walked around picking up large shipment containers full of resources Ruby couldn't discern. There was a train filling up almost half of the work space as one end of it went into a tunnel leading north.

Towards Vale.

She heard something heavy drop to her right as she turned her head to see two White Fang grunts standing around some strange device in one of the train carts. One of the grunts yelled at the other as the one responsible for dropping the device quickly apologized.

"Hey boss! We've got something for you to see!" The grunt to holding her left wrist called out.

"Is it good or bad Parry, because let me tell you… I have _had_ a day." A voice that Ruby immediately recognized and knew belonged to the master criminal came from within the train cart.

"Uh… a little girl?" The guard, Parry, answered not sounding too sure of himself.

Silence seemed to fill the cavern as Roman Torchwick popped his head from within the cart and immediately locked eyes with Ruby.

Taking a small puff of his cigar before taking it from his mouth Roman winced slightly saying, "That would be bad." Hopping down from the train cart, the infamous Dust thief made his way over to her and his two goons. Grabbing her by the collar, Roman signaled for the two grunts to let go as he dragged her closer.

"But who ever said that all bad things don't have their good sides?" He snickered as the world spun as he harshly threw her behind him. She slid a bit on the cold cave floor before lifting her head up to glare at the man before her.

"Oh you are much more manageable without that oversized gardening tool Red." Roman laughed as he took a few steps closer to her.

Mustering up her anger towards the man, Ruby tried to rush forward to tackle him, but he easily sidestepped it like it was nothing. It was nothing. Landing on the ground yet again she heard him say, "I actually really did need this! Thanks Parry." One of the guards holding her just moments ago gave him a thumbs up in return.

After letting out a light hearty chuckle, all manner of joking around washed away from his features as he narrowed his visible eye at her. Giving a crooked smile, Roman kneeled down and said, "But seriously Red, how'd you find us here?" The question came accompanied with the barrel of his weapon placed at the base of her neck.

If she didn't answer soon then things were about to get really bad for her.

She wouldn't let it come to that as she activated her semblance and was away from the criminal faster than he could let out a startled, "What?"

She was heading towards the back tunnel as fast as she could, and made it about half way there when she felt something wrap around her ankle. She didn't have time to look at just what had caught her as she hit the ground (again) face first. Being dragged along the ground back towards Roman, the criminal let out, "I notice that you've got a few tricks up your sleeve, but," She came up right at his feet, him looking down at her with a smirk. "Allow me to make this clear, they won't be working here. Parry could you and the boys-"

He was interrupted as the entire cave seemed to shake for a moment; accompanied by a loud rumbling.

"Huh?" Roman looked up away from the brat before looking further down towards where many White Fang grunts were yelling and running away from something. Dust followed after them, along with another banging noise as a few grunts turned back and began firing at something that he couldn't see.

"Oh what now?" He complained as he narrowed his eyes to get a better view in the somewhat dimly lit cavern.

Trailing close behind the retreating grunts were five figures. Three of which looked very familiar, and two that just made him want to go punch Parry in the face.

' _Is that a dog?'_ The master thief thought to himself as he began to slowly back towards the train.

Ruby saw that it was her team, along with both professors and Zwei! While he was distracted, she leapt up and on top of Roman's head, she shoved that ugly hat further down until it covered his eyes and leapt off him. Using her semblance once again, Ruby would make it over to her team and teachers in a matter of seconds.

After fixing his hat so that it was properly back in place, Roman let out a frustrated growl as two Hunters came to stop the train operation. As well as the team of brats from Beacon that has been a thorn in his side over the last few months.

"Will somebody just kill her?!" Roman shouted as he aimed the business side of Melodic Cudgel at Ruby's back and began firing.

Bullets whizzed by a little too closely to her head, and the heat of the explosions at the back of her heels didn't help either as she pushed herself harder. Dodging left and right to avoid being hit she thought that she was in the clear when the bullets stopped flying.

That was until she was coming up to four more grunts with each pointing their guns at her.

Correction: the bullets _behind_ stopped flying.

Just as they were about to pull the triggers, a loud, familiar shotgun blast came from behind them. The explosion landing right between the two middle guards, each were sent flying to either side of her as she beheld her sister and teammates.

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed joyfully as she embraced her sister in a tight hug before letting the young girl down. "Are you alright?" A concerned Weiss asked as she looked over their leader for any injury.

"I'm fine you guys, but we need to hurry. Torchwick has all sorts of weapons and robots on that train." Ruby began explaining.

"What?!" An astonished Blake questioned as she readied Gambol Shroud in its katana form.

"Androids, Mechs, some weird device thingy that I don't know what is, but looks really bad and we have to stop it-" Stopping herself before she rambled on, Ruby calmly explained the situation, "The fact is that he has them all stacked up on those train cars and I think they're about to take off."

"Preposterous! These tunnels are sealed, the-they would only lead to a dead end." Oobleck said as he tried to make sense of what the White Fang were planning.

It was then that a loud screeching noise filled their ears as Roman activated the communication system. "Get to your places people we are leaving _now_!" At those words Roman put down the microphone before signaling the Faunus operating the controls to get going.

A lurch was felt as the wheels of the train began rolling them forward towards Vale.

"What do we do?" Weiss asked as she looked towards Ruby holding her Scroll out, trying to get a signal to call for backup.

Knowing nothing good would come from whatever Cinder's allies were planning, but knowing deep down that innocent lives would be lost, Tyrell didn't need to think about what had to be done as he began sprinting towards the train.

"What's he doing?!" Blake asked startled at his action as she watched Tyrell dash off to the train, as it gained more speed each second.

"I believe that Sir Tyrell is already acting out the best, and only course of action given to us." Oobleck answered as a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Come on guys, we're going to stop that train." Ruby said with determination in her eyes while unfolding Crescent Rose.

…

 _ **Earlier that same night…**_

Cinder had been given a date as to when Abell would be arriving to meet her in person. However, she had grown "impatient" as he had been almost a _week_ late from the scheduled arrival date.

They waited in silence at the nearly empty warehouse as the only occupants were herself, Emerald, Mercury, and Taurus as well as she wanted all her key players here to meet the Ashen Lord.

Having given his last messenger the date, time, and coordinates as to where to appear, as well as a little gift for making her wait; Cinder sat waiting on a discarded crate as both Mercury and Emerald had been told (forced) to wait patiently as well. Adam stood further away from the rest of them as he waited with no emotion on his visible features.

Just keeping a hand rested on the hilt of his weapon, even he wanted to make sure that whoever they were dealing with didn't prove to be a threat to his people.

It always paid to have a little extra insurance when meeting with new clients, as they sometimes proved to be unpredictable.

"Is this guy gonna show or not?" The silver haired teen whined as he had become bored of waiting for this 'Ashen Lord' character to show up. Emerald sighed her agreement as she too asked, "You sure that this guy's gonna appear Cinder?"

Letting out a controlled sigh of frustration, her patience already thin as it was, Cinder only let out, "Wait. Obey. Speak no more." Her words were icy despite the heat radiating off her to warn them of how impatient she already was.

Just as she was about to leave and deciding to burn Abell's next messenger, the room suddenly grew _very_ cold. Not the kind where the temperature would grow chilly, but a different kind. Like all life and emotion were being sucked out of the world.

Even the heat that she just had been covering herself seemed to be sucked away into the black and white portal that suddenly appeared right before them.

It resembled that of which the Sentinel had carried around within his satchel, but only much larger.

Rising high enough to fit two people, and thrice as wide, everyone besides herself instinctively readied themselves as a faint ripple came from within the portal.

Two figures appeared, clad in the same black armor that the warrior that had escorted Alan wore. They almost looked the exact same to the silent warrior except for two key differences. They were of much more normal height as they reached to just about Adam's height, and there was no flame coming from within their darkened visors.

' _Lower-ranked knights.'_ Cinder concluded to herself as another pair appeared behind the first. These two the exact same as the first pair as more and more appeared from within the portal.

Soon they had enough to surround all four of them two times over, which was exactly what they did. Fully surrounded with the only exit being the same portal from which they entered, Cinder readied _her_ powers secretly as there was another ripple.

The man of the hour stepped through a moment later.

Accompanied by two guards that looked far different from the others, Cinder studied the one on the right of Abell first.

Clad in carefully detailed silver armor, covering every single inch of his body from head to toe. Large shoulder guards, two large leg guards that covered his thigh to his upper knee, and a helmet with a narrowed 'V' shaped visor; as well as two small jaw hinges that reached up past his head. Giving him the appearance of having horns like a demon.

This one carried a large two-handed greatsword within both hands as it lightly rested on his right shoulder. It looked long enough to skewer someone on it if he held the strength to do so.

Slowly shifting her gaze over towards the one on Abell's left; she carefully studied his appearance and weapon.

He looked mostly like that of a samurai in one of those fantasy books that children would read.

Covered in various pieces of armor on his shoulders, partially his legs, and chest, he wore dark trousers beneath and leather boots. Most of his armor had the colors of brown, gold, and a few hints of red and green. What stood out to her was his helmet, with its dark rusted color as well as the twelve closed eyeholes that seemed to secretly stare at her. Even a nose was present at the bottom of the eyes right down the middle; as well as a long, dark brown bandana that seemed to flow behind him without the presence of wind in the warehouse.

As for his weapon, the length of his katana put Taurus' to shame as the length alone of it could most likely reach her if he only took two steps.

She would need to keep an eye out for the both of them as her gaze finally set onto the man she was anticipating to meet for quite some time.

Wearing the same armor of his knights, but (burned?) black, Abell carried himself with an aura of leadership and conquering. His shield rested on his back as well as a large halberd that reached above his head. It's blade holding a slightly curved look and a little bit lighter in color than his armor.

"Greetings Abell." She said in her usual sensuous voice. Most of her male clients/allies held one weakness, her utter charm and beauty. It allowed her to expose that weakness of any of her clients to get what she wanted out of them.

Taking a bow, an actual bow to her, Abell responded, "Fair greetings to you _Cinder_." The way he said her name made her stiffen in the slightest. He said it like that of a lover as she internally frowned at how he used it. No one, not even Roman, would ever use her name in such a way as long as she was present.

"I do apologize for having to of kept you waiting. Certain… events prevented me from arriving sooner. I do so hope you can forgive me." Abell bowed his head to her this time before she gave him a small grin. Despite having to be waited on for nearly a week, Cinder knew that she needed his armies as much as he needed her to supply food for said armies.

"Don't worry dear _Abell_ ," Again that sensual voice, but upped a bit. "I am considered a fair person who believes in second chances. Rare thirds, but thankfully it didn't come to that now did it?" As she said this she stepped off the crate and walked over towards the Ashen Lord.

"Now, I believe that we have _much_ to talk about now that you're here." With another fake smile, Cinder looked into the darkened visor that the man hid behind.

She saw only two, tiny white lights looking back.

* * *

 **Well I think that's another good area to stop at for now. So what did you all think? I'd like to see your personal thoughts and opinions in a review or PM, but no pressure.**

 **I was originally going to add the first few train fights in this chapter, but I thought it would be better to save it for the next chapter instead. Which I, and you all too, look forward to. Also wanted to apologize for the mostly same dialogue used in this chapter as I skipped as much as I could to keep it from getting too repeated. It's a necessary evil when trying to get one's story caught up with canon, but an evil nonetheless.**

 **I'm sure you all know what event is coming up in the next chapter and I will say that it will be the turning point in the story, or at least the beginning of the turning point.**

 **I'll talk to you all next chapter and thanks again for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing everyone! Almost one hundred favorites and nearly one hundred and thirty followers! :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**Have to say that this is my longest chapter to date so far, but I also must admit that I feel that this chapter was lacking in a few areas here and there. Also the delay is my fault entirely as this should have been out last week, but I started playing Warframe again with a couple friends.**

 **So my bad :/**

 **Anyway let's get onto the story shall we?**

* * *

 _ **Fall From Grace: Finale**_

 _He did not sit, nor wait, but just merely existed within the void._

 _He had attained the first step in his plans to achieve his victory. The first step was achieved not by mere luck, nor due to his infinite patience, but just by existing within the abyss._

 _By his existence alone did the first step come into fruition, but the second had taken far longer than he had anticipated for. A few centuries_ did _stiffen his mind and soul quite a bit, but that didn't matter now as he had finally attained the second step._

 _The vessels would serve him well in the coming future, where his one goal sat waiting for him to reach out and grasp it._

' _Soon…' He thought as he felt a ripple within the void. A small, insignificant one, but one none the less._

 _One of the infinite acolytes approached him from outside the void. To it, his power was impossible and infinite, but he discarded that thought as he only looked at it._

 _It did not shy away from his gaze, nor plead mercy for just being in his presence, just as one with so little power might in the presence of a greater being. And why would it?_

 _It was a part of him after all._

" _The beast which holds the smoldering gaze is almost completely bent under your will my Lord." It spoke in a tongue that he once did not understand, but is now the sole master of. "Preparations for the eternal vessel are under way, but it will be hollow and its ravenous hunger will need to be satiated in order for you to-"_

 _It stopped speaking with just his thought alone, but he felt the need to speak anyway. "Continue to break the will of the beast, as it will be required. The eternal vessel will be filled, and my goal realized." He didn't need to look at the countless pairs of white eyes that starred at him through the abyss._

 _One set of eyes approached from the eternal black at his will. Not an acolyte, but a more ascendant piece of himself._

 _A 'commander' of sorts to the lesser acolytes when he was preoccupied with his thoughts. Standing far taller than the acolyte he was just speaking with, the ascendant wore armor foreign to him and rested a great weapon on its right shoulder._

 _The ascendants were unique in the ways they developed from a part of his own soul. They express themselves much more… freely than the acolytes, but not enough to make them think about such trivial things._

 _Such as rebellion against him._

 _He didn't understand exactly why these ascendant pieces of him took on the appearances that they did. But that was an insignificant thought to think about after his goal was achieved._

 _There were no more than four of them in total, as each one alone could command thousands at a time._

" _How go the preparation of the higher vessels?" He asked in the language only known to him alone. It looked him straight in the eye, each infinite gaze looking into the other._

" _Three are already under your will, and filled with your power, although they have yet to realize it." It made what sounded like a snarl, but distorted and echoing slightly within the abyss. "The_ fourth _has yet to fall under your will. The time in which he breaks is upon me, and I will strike when he's most vulnerable."_

 _He nodded his head in return, but before dismissing the 'commander' he gave it one warning, "Do not fail me, or you shall return to being nothing in the eternal black." It bowed to him before departing into the abyss once more, with the axe resting on its shoulder bobbing up and down somewhat._

" _Leave." With just that word alone, all the pairs of white eyes disappeared into the eternal black once more. Only he and his 'guest' remained within the void as he walked over towards the Ashen Lord, he asked, "Who are you?"_

"…" _Only silence greeted him before he asked again in a calm manner. "Who are you?"_

 _The Ashen Lord stirred before letting out in a dry, whispering voice, "… My name… is Abell…"_

 _Feeling the need to sigh heavily, he walked away from the Ashen Lord before saying to more himself than the bound lord, "Let the crusade begin once more."_

...

How he managed to climb his way up and onto the train was a miracle in itself as he and the others stood atop the "caboose" of the train. Now moving at speeds that made him unbalanced, Tyrell was surprised how none of them fell off.

"Bart, what is this contraption?" He asked the Doctor as Weiss had just opened one of the caboose's roof entrances, revealing a large strange-looking device.

"My friend, that appears to be a bomb." Oobleck stated blatantly as all of team RWBY took a big step back away from the machine. Both Tyrell and Oobleck kneeled down to get better look at the device.

"Well I must say that I've never seen anything like it before." Tyrell commented as he examined the multiple blue and red wires strewn about the bomb.

"Once we get back to Beacon I'll have to catch you up to speed to some of the more dangerous technology of Vale." Oobleck promised as Yang caught both professors' attention when she said, "Is now _really_ the time to be planning when you'll be setting up study dates professors?"

"We've got baddies!" Ruby exclaimed as she pointed down towards farther up the train. Narrowing his eyes to see a bit further he could spot multiple White Fang soldiers emerging from the carts up ahead.

"Well, I didn't expect them to go-" Right before the Doctor could finish a strange noise sounded right beneath them, drawing all their attention to the bomb. The screen that was previously dark began emitting a continuously flashing red light. "-easy on us." Oobleck finished with his tone getting flatter.

While Oobleck pulled Blake aside, Tyrell and the rest of the girls jumped across the small gap between the caboose and the next car.

Seeing the White Fang coming closer to their position Tyrell spoke out, "Ruby, you and I are going to cut down their numbers as much as we can before they arrive. Are you prepared?"

The young girl gave him a smirk before unfolding Crescent Rose and implanting the blade into the roof of the cart. Positioning her gun at the approaching White Fang, Tyrell drew upon his Greatbow and took aim.

Both began firing at the Fang grunts with precise aim.

He didn't see it, but the young leader was sending quick nervous glances over towards him. While she shot for areas such as the legs or hands to disarm and incapacitate the grunts, her professor shot to kill.

She witnessed two grunts being impaled by one arrow before their weight caused it to impact the cart rooftop. She was thankful that she didn't see what happened to the Faunus that had an arrow going straight for his heart as she looked to another target.

Unfortunalty she still heard the screaming that came shortly after, even above the roaring wind from standing atop the speeding train.

A thunderous sound was heard from behind the group as the caboose containing the bomb had detonated.

"That's not good." Oobleck said as he spotted a few newly made holes in the tunnel's walls.

"Neither is this." Yang said as all of them turned to see her pulling open the roof entrance to the cart. Only to reveal another bomb contained inside.

"Another bomb?!" Blake asked astonished as Oobleck jogged over to the next cart and quickly pulling up the roof entrance door.

Shouting down to them he said, "They all have bombs!" Just at that moment the second one made the same noise as the first and began to flash a red light.

"Truly this will prove very troublesome for us." Tyrell commented worriedly as they all felt the lurch of the second cart as it began to detach from the rest of the train.

Running right behind team RWBY the gap was getting larger and larger by the second. Jumping off at the very ledge of the cart, he was afraid that he wouldn't make it as the next cart seemed further away than he realized.

Just barely catching the ledge of the next cart, Tyrell accepted the offered hand of Blake as she helped pull him up.

"I don't understand how this makes any sense!" Yang exclaimed as she looked behind them at the departing cart.

"Behind us!" Tyrell shouted as he raised his Greatbow once more before firing at a grunt getting ready to shoot his rifle.

Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Weiss all rushed ahead and readied themselves into a fighting stance as Oobleck called Tyrell over.

"What is it Doctor?"

Before the man answered, the second cart exploded behind them. More holes appeared from both sides of the tunnel and an even larger one in the ceiling. It was then that Grimm began to emerge from each breach in the tunnel before they all began to follow after the train.

Ranging from small Creepers to a King Taijitu, Tyrell spoke in an astonished tone, "I don't think I've brought enough arrows."

"I believe he's leading Grimm to the city. That would explain why most of the carts contained at least one bomb and why he's been detaching them. And I suppose he plans on using the train itself to blow through the doors at the end of the tunnel." Oobleck theorized as he then turned to Tyrell before ordering, "Ms. Rose and I will stay up here to keep as much of the White Fang busy as possible while you take the rest of RWBY into the train to stop Torchwick."

"Is he to be taken in Bart?" Tyrell asked in all seriousness as his friend gave him a surprised look.

"Why of course Tyrell! Make sure that you four secure that fiend for the authorities to handle, but your top priority is to stop this train at all costs." With that said both of them relayed both Oobleck's theory and plan to the first year team. Each giving a nod in understanding as both groups set out to complete their assigned task.

…

They landed in the first cart that had no bomb within it, which (un)fortunalty was closer to the front of the train than they had thought.

"Okay girls, this is what you've been training for. Let's put an end to Torchwick's scheme shall we?" He had faith in each and every one of them as they all smiled back at him.

"Here Blake, this will help you in case you need it." Weiss offered the Faunus girl a fresh clip of Dust for Gambol Shroud as Blake kindly accepted it. Loading it up into the hilt of her katana, Blake nodded her thanks before all four of them began to run towards the end of the cart.

But before they could, a bright flash filled their vision. When they uncovered their eyes, a woman had suddenly materialized right before them.

She wore what he saw as a white and pink overcoat with a brown sweater underneath, along with long dark brown pants and knee-high white boots. The girl's hair was colored with two different colors: a chocolate brown and milky pink. Split right down her hairline, he also noticed too how her eyes matched her hair.

She carried what appeared to be a normal umbrella casually resting upon her right shoulder. From his time with Beacon, he knew that any Huntsman was dangerous no matter what their weapon appeared to look like.

"Very peculiar colored eyes you have young miss." Tyrell commented while drawing his sword and keeping it pointed towards the newcomer.

She made no verbal response as she only offered him a single raised brow and a confused look. He, along with Weiss and Blake, were about to engage when Yang halted them.

"You three go on ahead." She held out a hand to stop their approach before giving the brown and pink girl a strong glare. "She's _mine_." The brawler's tone indicated that she wouldn't listen to any of them, teammate or teacher.

Knowing that arguing with her would only give the train more time to reach Vale, Tyrell sighed as he withheld his argument.

"A week's worth of detention with Professor Port if you don't come back to us Ms. Xiao-Long." Tyrell threatened as he waited to make sure that she understood the severity of what she was doing.

Giving a short nod that she did, he headed off to join the two other members of team RWBY as they all ran past the girl.

The unnamed girl was about to strike at Blake when a shotgun blast forced her to withhold the attack. Both girls made it by with Tyrell right behind them, but when he took a quick glance down at the girl he noticed the smirk she held while focusing entirely on the fiery blond.

' _Stay safe Yang.'_ He prayed for his student's safety as he made his way into the next train cart.

After she saw that they had made it into the next cart, Yang and Neo both starred at one another. One holding an unnerving calm while the other held a steady determination.

Walking over to the illusionist, Yang stood only a foot away from Roman's henchman while looking down on her. Standing a good head higher than her, Neo had to lift her head a bit to look Yang right in the eye.

With a smirk playing on her lips Neo waited for Yang to make the first move.

Curling her hand up into a fist, Yang reared her hand back to deliver a strong right hook. The girl's smirk turned more sinister as a flash of light blinded Yang as she felt her fist connect with nothing but air.

A flash had her spinning back a few steps as the light disoriented her. Looking up at the crook after clearing her vision, Yang launched herself at Neo.

Unfolding her umbrella, the illusive girl managed to dodge each and every one of the brawler's strikes without breaking a sweat. It was child's play to Neo as she had much more combat experience than this trainee.

After blocking a few more strikes with her umbrella, Neo spun around before delivering a high kick to the blonde's face.

On the ground for only a second Yang jumped back up, narrowly dodging the heel heading just where her head had been a second ago.

Back on her feet she dashed forward while rearing up another punch before the illusionist caught it in between her arm and umbrella. Stuck momentarily, Yang couldn't block the kick to her abdomen as Neo flipped her over before delivering the kick.

A little dizzy from being knocked on the ground so fast, she quickly brushed it off as she made her way in for another attack. Neo only unfolded her umbrella before smirking once more at the hotheaded blonde.

…

"Are you positive that it was alright to leave Weiss alone to fight that man?" Tyrell asked the last non-preoccupied member of RWBY.

The man carried himself like someone with a good amount of combat experience under his belt, and his strange spinning greatsword didn't help his worries either.

The grunts might all have been trained to a small degree, but he knew that some of these opponents were on a higher level than those beneath them.

Perhaps even him as well.

"She can take care of herself. She's been training hard ever since our team formed and is always improving each day." Blake reassured as they exited one empty cart to enter another. "I trust her to stay alive Tyrell." Her tone was cool and no doubt came from her that he could detect.

"You all share a strong bond with one another. That's always important when forming parties to fight powerful monstrosities, and even more so when helping one another out in times of need." He's praised each team that he's come across at Beacon for their tight teamwork and shared bonds with one other.

Despite their differences in personality they always seemed to support one another, and actually form teams that could take on anything that he'd ever came across from his exploration of Lordran.

A bitter thought then entered his mind as it also reminded him how he and the other Knights of Omen never shared anything similar to their bonds. While it was true that they would fight together to take down their foes, they were never more apart.

It was only survival to each of them, and while he tried to make them work together to try and have one another's back in a fatal situation, both always refused to listen.

Perhaps it was just how each of them only knew _how_ to fight together.

Instead of three knights against half a dozen drakes, it was more like each knight against two instead.

He sighed at how little each of them tried to work together as a single unit. At first he had tried and failed, and could only blame himself as a result of being a bad leader.

However, after three years of working 'together' he now knew that the fault not only lay with him.

"Sometimes I grow envious of how close you and the rest of your team are." He murmured in a hollow tone as they arrived at the end of the current cart. Passing through the automatic door, both were nearing the front of the train as they only had one more to go.

He'd forgotten that she could still hear him due to her Faunus heritage. Glancing at Blake he could see the understanding that the those amber eyes showed as they looked into grey.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in?" The voice of Roman Torchwick joked as he stood at the very end of the train cart; the last obstacle between them and the train's controls.

Stepping ahead of Blake, Tyrell asked, "Do you realize how many innocent souls will perish out there if your plan succeeds?"

"Ahh so you brought the talking tin can as well huh?" Stroking his non-existent beard Roman considered the possibilities when the train broke through into Vale. "I'd say about… this much." Roman mockingly spread his arms out before him while letting out a cruel chuckle.

"But what's it to you anyways tin can? The last I checked, you had as much-" However, Roman didn't get to finish letting loose that little piece of information as Blake had lunged towards him.

Letting out an annoyed sigh Roman went to meet Blake half way as he readied his cane to let out some much deserved revenge on the female Faunus.

Readying an overhead strike, Roman was met with not the cat Faunus, but rather a really _hot_ clone left behind instead. She rolled passed him as the flames of the clone she left in her place exploded as soon as his cane met its head.

Roman was sent flying back and over Blake from the shockwave, but fortunately for him his Aura took the blunt of the impact. However, he was still midair, and Blake saw the opportunity before leaping up to meet the criminal.

Drawing Gambol Shroud's katana form, Blake let loose a few blows across his arms and chest before one final cut sent him soaring back to the floor.

Tyrell had been watching from the back of the cart before he realized that he still had an objective to accomplish. While Roman was occupied with having to defend against Blake's onslaught of attacks was when he made his move.

He was passed the two within seconds and was on his way towards the door.

"Dammit." Roman whispered hastily as he needed to prevent the Hunter from stopping the train as he went to aim his cane at the man's back. Blake blocked his vision as she had managed to get behind him when he wasn't looking.

Thrusting his cane in hopes of at least landing a hit on the girl, Roman soon found that he couldn't move his weapon. Looking down he saw that Melodic Cudgel had been encased within an ice clone of the annoying Faunus.

Blake was preparing for her final attack when Roman smirked at her. She didn't see it, but his cane's built in dust charge was pointed right at the back of the Huntsman.

Popping up the reticle and about to pull the trigger, Roman's small advantage disappeared as the ice had spread over his hand as well.

' _If there is someone up there… fuck you.'_ That was his last thought before Blake brought down her weapon in one large sweeping attack that sent out a large purple wave right towards him.

It hit hard as it shattered the ice and knocked him back to the middle of the cart.

Feeling disoriented and a little weakened, Roman tried to get up before he felt a _very_ sharp object rest near his neck.

"Uhh… heh." Seeing the animal giving him the death glare, and how he was in no position to fight back. Roman did the next best thing that he was good at besides stealing.

Talking his way out of things.

"Why are we fighting? I saw you at that rally; we're on the same side Belladonna, and you know it." The katana only grew closer to his unprotected Adam's apple and he could feel some sweat coming down his neck. "Ahh still feisty I see. _So_ what are we gonna do now?"

She wasn't listening to him or herself, as every instinct in her body was begging her to end the man's life to rid the world of one more monster. It was taking most of her will power just to not plunge the blade of her weapon into his exposed throat.

But then what would her team think of her?

To kill a monster you must become one, and she knew how they would react if they saw her covered in another person's blood.

Even if said person deserved to be put down.

…

Tyrell entered the compartment at the head of the train.

Looking around there seemed to be only one White Fang operating/guarding over the train's controls.

The male Faunus turned around just in time to see a silver shield collide with his face before falling unconscious from the blow. Knocked out, Tyrell pulled the unconscious man to the side so he wouldn't get in the way of anything.

"How do I stop this?" He asked himself as he looked over the multitude of controls and monitoring systems on the panel.

There seemed to be no end to the number of buttons and levers that covered the panel as he frantically searched for a way to cease the train's movements.

He looked up to see the heavy iron doors far off in the distance as they were approaching those same doors at an alarming speed.

During his third time of looking over the panel, he finally spotted a lever that he assumed was the brakes. The words "In Case of Emergency" were printed onto the handle, and with not much time left he reached for the lever.

His fingers only grasped the handle when a force unlike any other smashed into his lower back. It was during his frantic searching for a way to stop the train that he failed to notice the sound of metal footsteps approaching slowly from behind.

It had been quite a while since the last time he had been backstabbed by any weapon.

"Aaugh!" He cried out as he crumpled down onto the ground. Looking back up at what had caught him off guard, his eyes had widened in complete shock at seeing a member of the Old Guardsman towering above him.

The side of his sword was covered in blood, his blood, as a single droplet fell from the Black Knight Greatsword and onto the floor.

"W-why? How-" He didn't finish as the guardsman raised his mighty greatsword up to bring down atop his form. Rolling out of the way had caused his back to roar in pain as more blood was forced out.

Looking at where the greatsword had struck, Tyrell saw the controls to the train all but destroyed as wires were exposed and sparks flew out.

Standing up and looking the guardsman in the eye Tyrell ordered, "As commander of the Knights of Omen I, Tyrell the Sentinel, command you to cease your attack and to tell me what you are doing here!"

There came no response, even if the guardsman of the Old Guard rarely talked, they would _always_ respond when ordered by a higher up. The fact that he didn't told Tyrell that something was wrong as he looked closer at the man.

Shock again gripped him as he saw not the usual burning fire that resembled Abell's soul, but two simple white pupils that seemed to burn just as much.

"What has happened to our Lord?" He demanded as the guardsman rushed at him and, before he could react, gripped him by his throat. Lifting him up and above his head, the guardsman just looked at Tyrell.

No, not at, but into.

' _What the hell is going on?'_ He thought to himself as he was thrown away and back towards the door in which he had come in from.

…

"Do you really think a little bow on top is really going to make people forget what you were? What you've done?" Roman was trying to get into her head, and it seemed to be working as a small growl could be heard coming from Blake.

While contemplating whether or not to end Roman's life in the middle of this train cart, two things happened.

The first was the door behind her had opened and a beaten up Weiss was thrown into the cart by the White Fang lieutenant. Still holding his weapon in two hands, the lieutenant stepped into the cart while slowly approaching the downed heiress.

The second only made it worse as a bleeding Tyrell was sent through the doors of the front train car. He managed to stand himself up, but his legs shook a little as Blake saw the large gash that now currently covered his lower back.

When she looked to the still open doors, she saw what opponent lay within the darkness.

Two glowing white eyes shined bright through the dimness of the front train car as the tip of a weapon that she assumed was a sword poked out into the light. Crimson blood stained the left side of the blade as the rest of the figure walked out into the light.

Blake's eyes widened as what she felt was like going through multiple different emotions all at once such as confusion, shock, suspicion, and a hint of fear.

The last mostly due to the general aura that the black armored man at the end of the hall gave off.

Standing before her professor was a man that towered even over Yatsuhashi. The man wore armor similar to Tyrell's, but with a dark, Grimm like twist to it as it looked like it was severely burned and instead of metal wings atop his head lay two demonic horns.

His shield even looked similar to her professor's as she couldn't help shake the cold chill that went down her spine when she looked into those eyes again.

"Oooohh decisions, decisions. So what's it gonna be Blake? Or better yet, who?" That was the last sentence he spoke as he soon felt the full force of her boot against his skull as he lost consciousness.

Blake looked frantically between those that needed her help. Weiss, who was slowly managing to get herself up, but not fast enough to defend herself against the lieutenant. Or Tyrell, who just managed to block a large swing from that massive sword that his attacker wielded.

He was breathing a little heavily as he staggered back a few more steps while his opponent was rearing back his sword, angling it towards their professor's chest, before sending it roaring straight at him.

His shield was raised and he avoided yet another attack by parrying the large blade, but it wasn't strong enough to push the blade entirely away. Instead of sending it away from himself, Tyrell only managed to send it scraping against his left shoulder instead.

The slowed momentum of the blade only caused a shallow cut as Tyrell jumped away from the man.

It was probably one of the most selfish things that she had done in her life as she ran to Weiss's side and helped the girl up.

She cared more for her teammate than the life of her own professor as she quickly ran both her and Weiss out the top of the train cart.

She ran away from her problems yet again as she and the now conscious Weiss escaped to the roof of the train cart.

' _I'm sorry.'_ She felt a small tear escape her right eye as she left their professor to his fate.

…

Still feeling soar from the guardsman's' backstab, Tyrell now had to deal with both the Black Knight and the White Fang lieutenant that Weiss chose to face earlier.

Only able to dodge, roll, and back away from their attacks Tyrell was calculating his chances for survival. Right then he rolled under a horizontal swipe from the lieutenant's spinning greatsword, but only to roll into an overhead swing by the guardsman.

' _Why is this happening? Why is he not responding to my command? Could it be something about those white eyes?'_ He thought to himself as he turned himself sideways to avoid the vertical strike.

He felt the gush of wind that followed the heavy weapon as it went past him, so he knew better than to get hit by such a thing again.

"Stop dodging and just die you human filth!" The Faunus lieutenant shouted in frustration at not being able to hit his target yet again.

"I apologize, but I don't feel like visiting the Gravelord as ofyet." Tyrell mocked the lieutenant as it only served to make the Faunus extremist even angrier.

"Aarrrrgg! Just DIE!" The lieutenant shouted as in one swift movement Tyrell found that spinning greatsword cutting right into his raised shield. It was holding for a moment, but he couldn't move away at the risk that he would be cut.

Eventually, the Faunus succeeded as he managed to saw off a large piece of Tyrell's shield, actually cutting off nearly the entire top portion of it. Seeing this, the lieutenant swept the Sentinel's feet from underneath him and the knight was down on the floor once more.

"Time to die filth." The Faunus stomped on Tyrell's chest as he raised his chainsaw over his head, ready to deliver the killing blow.

"Heh heh ha ha ha- auggh?!" The lieutenant stopped mid-laughter as he looked down at the blood tipped blade that protruded from his chest cavity. He had been so blinded by his bloodlust that he failed to notice the cold presence right behind him.

"Wh-wha-t?!" He questioned as blood poured down from beneath his mask as he was lifted into the air by the guardsman's immense strength.

Both feet dangling off the ground, the guardsman spoke in a voice that very few ever heard. " _Mine to kill…_ " It whispered into the lieutenant's ear in a dry, completely hollowed tone.

"B-but… our day o-of glory, had fi-nally…" He died as the Black Knight dislodged the dead Faunus off of his sword with a mighty swing. The corpse landed right next to the Sentinel as blood pooled out from the wound.

Tyrell couldn't even feel that cool, killing calm that washed over him earlier that day as the guardsman drew back his greatsword once more. Positioned once more at his chest, Tyrell raised whatever remained of his Silver Knight's shield to try and defend himself; no matter how impossible it would be for him to survive.

A great impact caused the entire train to shake uncontrollably as both were thrown all over the train cart before his head slammed against the hard metal side of the cart.

Everything went dark afterwards.

…

" _You're lucky that I got there when I did, or else we might have had to see a healer from the church." I told the small blonde boy that was sitting on one of the seats at the 'kitchen table'._

" _I'm just glad you're safe." I hugged the boy as he continued to cry into my shoulder._

" _I-I-I'm s-sorr-y-" He tried to get out in between sobs as I shushed him and rubbed his back in comfort._

" _There's no need to apologize to me. If anything, those two jerks deserve to go to the disciplinary church. Maybe they would learn to treat those such as us with more respect." I let him go before crossing my arms as I sighed in frustration._

" _Are you okay?" He asked me as his tear-stained eyes looked up at me in concern._

" _Yeah of course I am! Those two idiots barely put a scratch on me!" I said as I pointed at myself with my thumb in a show of manliness._

 _Of course that was a lie._

 _When both of those bullies ganged up on me after I broke the fat one's nose I lost the fight. My ribs hurt from their kicks, my face ached from their punches, and my entire body was soar from trying to fight back._

 _But in the end, as long as they didn't hurt my little brother any more, then I would take all the blows for him if it meant he would be safe._

 _If it wasn't for that Silver Knight that had been patrolling the streets, if he didn't hear my brother's cries for mercy, then I might have died in that alley. I guess I should have thanked that silver angel of Lord Gwyn, but I just… couldn't._

 _He just chased those two jerks away, but after that? He didn't bother to check up on either of us as he walked passed us and left the alleyway._

' _Tch, that jerk.' I thought as I led my dumb little brother over to our shared bed._

 _It was more so a bunch of rags and towels put over a thin mattress than an actual bed, but it kept us both warm through most nights when the winds would pick up._

 _Living in the Burgs was hell._

 _There was enough sick to fill the healing church ten times over. Merchants and smugglers sold their stolen goods to any of those that could afford it, but they barely made ends meet._

 _Thieves roamed this depressing city mostly at night while they hung out in the "Thieves' Den" during the day._

 _Then there were mere peasants like my brother and I._

 _Each day becomes a struggle for survival when you try to get away with stealing a loaf of bread and bowl of water just to feed yourself. Two mouths to feed were even worse when it was only me who went out to steal the stuff._

 _It would be easier to involve the two of us, but I wouldn't risk his safety and being out there all by himself against this cruel, unforgiving world. My brother was just too innocent for me to allow him to be tainted with the art of stealing. I would do my best to keep that innocence preserved as long as I breathed._

" _It's time to get our rest now." I told him as he climbed into bed before I did. My muscles and bones screamed in agony from all the fighting I did earlier as I climbed in after him. "We want to be nice and well rested if we're going to go and see the Great Lord's court tomorrow, don't we?"_

 _It was something that the gods did every five years._

 _They would come down from the Golden City up above and parade around all over Lordran for all the mortals to bask in their divine presence._

 _I didn't care about any of that church crap at all really as I really only wanted to see my hero: Hawkeye Gough._

"… _yeah…" He answered with a big yawn right before sleep took hold of my little brother. Giving him a small peck on the forehead, I whispered, "Goodnight_ _."_

 _ **The next day…**_

" _Wow this is sooo cool!" My brother shouted out over the cheering crowd as everyone that lived in the Burgs and then some had gathered to see the Lord's trip to the cities below his own kingdom._

 _Silver Knights flanked both sides of the Great Lord as he and his three young children rode in a carriage that was too fancy for my taste._

 _There were many other nobles and lords that rode or walked around Gwyn's carriage, but I ignored them as I saw who I really wanted to see._

 _Hawkeye Gough of the Four Knights of Gwyn._

 _He stood taller than even if two carriages were stacked atop one another as I watched him slowly make his way along the cobblestone path behind Gwyn._

 _I tried to get his attention when he turned from the opposite side of the crowd to ours as I waved my arms frantically. It still hurt and my muscles screamed at me to stop as I continued to wave them in his direction._

 _Then, in that moment, his helmet turned towards my direction. I knew that he was looking directly at me as I could just feel it. To be looked at by those sharp eyes was a gift in itself as I dumbly waved my hand to him. I smiled, a real one, for the first time in what felt like months as he waved back at me._

" _Hey! Hawkeye Gough just waved at me! Isn't that-" I fell silent as I turned to look where my brother had been standing by me just mere moments ago. The world seemed to stop for me as I searched frantically for him and called out his name in hopes that he would respond._

' _Where could he have gone? He would never leave my side unless-' Fearing the worst, I ran by the small abandoned park that had been abandoned for as long as I could remember._

 _I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard his voice._

 _Pushing and running past the moss covered entrance, I called out his name in hopes of hearing his response to find him quicker._

" _How could anyone think that of you? I think you look beautiful! In appearance and personality." I heard him say to someone else as a high pitched feminine giggle followed his compliment soon after._

' _Who's that?' I thought as I drew closer towards my brother and the person he was speaking to._

" _Thou art too kind to me. Most find it rather an eyesore than a complimenting feature." The voice was definitely feminine and high pitched as I walked into the center of the park._

 _There sitting on a single bench was both my little brother and a figure in large robes._

 _Both sitting comfortably next to one another on that bench, the figure was much taller than my short brother as, even sitting, was at least a few feet taller._

 _Was this the same person that I had heard my brother talking to?_

 _I wasn't sure as I noticed something small slightly poking out of the bottom between the figure's feet._

" _!" I shouted as both he and the stranger quickly turned around at the sound of my voice. He looked unharmed or at least not with any new injuries that I could see. However, my eyes were drawn to the figure sitting next to him._

 _It was hard to make out any distinct features as the cloak she wore covered most of her face in shadow._

" _Oh! Cilla this is my brother that I told you about!" He exclaimed in happier voice as he stood up on the bench. The tone in that voice was rare even for him as the lives we live had crushed a lot of our childhood joy._

 _Who was this girl (or woman?) to get my brother this happy? Looking at him standing up on the bench she was still an inch or two taller than him._

" _W-well it is a pleasure to meet thee." She stammered a bit and sounded nervous as I approached to get my brother._

" _Don't you ever leave my side like that again. You could have been hurt again!" I shouted more than I should have. When I saw some tears begin to form at the corners of his eyes I embraced him before whispering, "I'm just thankful that you're safe."_

 _I had forgotten about the tall girl as I thanked her for finding my brother, "Thank you for not hurting him."_

 _She looked taken aback at that comment, or that's what I got from how she brought a hand up to her chest before asking astonished, "Who would want to hurt such a kind soul?"_

 _A shadow crossed over my eyes as I didn't answer, nor did I want to expose his 'problem' to possibly the only other person to show him kindness._

 _Wriggling out of my embrace he looked up at Cilla before saying, "Don't worry Cilla! I'm strong, so I can take on whatever the world throws at me!" He actually_ flexed _as he put on a big smile for her._

" _Says the crybaby that's afraid of spiders." I let loose as that grin faltered before he tried to punch me in a fit of childish anger. I held him back by placing my hand on his forehead so he couldn't reach me as I laughed._

" _Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He yelled as he soon tired himself out._

 _We both turned to hear Cilla laughing as I said, "Well, thank you again… Cilla; for looking after him until I could find him."_

 _I gave her a smile as she bowed to the both of us before saying, "It was my own pleasure. He was very kind and I pray that we meet again soon…" She took a moment's pause before asking, "What is thou's name?"_

" _Tyrell." I answered as Cilla then nodded her head as she waved goodbye to each of us._

 _I pretended that I hadn't seen the tiny white tail that had poked through beneath her robes as we both walked our separate ways._

...

His ears were ringing, his entire body felt like it had been thrown around by a giant, like some sort of ragdoll.

Vision did not come clearly to him as he tried to focus on the figure that stood above him.

They looked familiar, but oh so different as they reached down to help him up. Instead of staying still so he could grasp their approaching hand, the fingers instead wrapped them around his throat. He was slowly being lifted up by a strength that he could only dream of.

Holding him high above the ground in the middle of the train wreckage was the Old Guard as he kept his only hand clasped to the Sentinel's throat.

Soon that same hand began to squeeze tightly around his windpipe as Tyrell began struggling to get air into his lungs. He found his legs unresponsive as he tried kicking at the guardsman in a vain attempt to free himself.

Thankfully he managed to get both arms up to grasp at the wrist of the knight as he could feel what remained of his strength beginning to slip away.

When he thought that he would die like this he soon felt himself meeting the ground once more.

The Black Knight threw him back onto the ground for a reason he did not know as Tyrell grunted in pain as his back slammed hard into the sharp ruble. Opening his eyes he saw the guardsman towering over him once more as he blocked his vision.

Kneeling down the Old Guard reared his only arm back before slamming his balled fist into the side of Tyrell's head.

The helmet blocked some of the blow, and it blocked some of the next one as the Black Knight began to repeatedly strike at his head.

The power behind each one soon rendered the helmet useless as in dented inwards against his skull. He tried to get his arms up to try and to protect himself, but they had been pinned down by the man's knees.

Another good punch had his head ringing and he soon began to see doubles.

A few punches after that Tyrell could feel a warm liquid running down the right side of his head.

' _So this is how I die?'_ He thought as fear began to slowly close its icy grip around his heart. He wasn't ready to die yet, especially like this as he continued to try anythingto fight back.

All his attempts to free his arms failed, his legs were completely unresponsive and no use to him now, and when he tried to call out for help he had been met with another heavy blow right in the face.

Darkness began to creep around the edges of his vision as he slowly began to fade into unconsciousness. But this time he knew that he would not wake if he closed his eyes.

The blows were beginning to not even register as his entire body began turning numb and his vision darkened even further.

It was at the very edge of consciousness that he felt the tiniest of movements in his left hand.

He didn't even know how he felt the humanity sprite that Abell had given him in what felt like years ago. Let alone how it actually got there.

He knew that he shouldn't do it as his soul screamed at him not to, but his body urged him to consume the dark sprite to survive.

He wouldn't know what would happen to him if he absorbed the sprite now that the undead curse had been lifted from him and his people.

He didn't care as he concentrated all of what was left of his strength into squeezing his left hand tightly around the small white and black sprite.

…

Nothing happened as the Black Knight let loose another blow to the front of his helmet, bending the nose guard inwards.

" **It's about damn time."** A horrifyingly familiar voice echoed throughout his entire mind as all the pain washed away from his body. It was as though someone was washing all the pain away as he could feel movement in his legs again.

The blood that had been pouring from the side of his head slowed down for a moment before coming to a complete stop.

The bliss he was in from the relived pain on his body soon turned into one of agony as the same arm that he used to crush the sprite with was thrashing about uncontrollably.

He shifted his gaze away from the guardsman to look at his arm as it continued to move around without him willing it to.

His eyes widened in shock as black tendrils seemingly sprouting from within his gauntlet began wrapping themselves around the entirety of his left arm.

He now knew that he should have accepted the Gravelord's embrace as the voice that haunted his dreams spoke freely while he was still awake. The last thing he saw was the Old Guard impaled right through the chest with a spike made entirely of burning dark fire.

…

"Ruby on your left!" Her big sis shouted out to her as she whirled around with Crescent Rose before, with a simple swing, bisected a Beowulf's head from its shoulders.

"Thanks Yang." They all had been fighting off what seemed to be hundreds of Grimm for what felt like nearly an hour.

When they had failed to stop the train from reaching Vale, Grimm flooded into the streets along the eastern side of Vale. It was a miracle that Weiss managed to shield them from the blast with her last minute ice igloo.

Or was it a cocoon?

She didn't know as she turned and saw Weiss take down five more Creepers by encasing them in blocks of ice before shattering them.

Right about to shoot down an Ursa that was closing in on a small group of citizens, Ruby saw a shining bronze spear imbed itself into the Ursa's neck. The Grimm soon fell over dead as Pyrrha quickly recovered her weapon before launching herself towards another group of Beowolves.

Shortly after the breach had occurred teams JNPR and CFVY arrived to help them clean out the slowly dwindling numbers of the Grimm horde.

"What was that?" Blake called out as she finished cutting a Beowulf in half before pulling her weapon back to her with a tug on her ribbon.

She could hear something faint sounding out over the Grimm onslaught coming far from somewhere to the left of their position.

"What was what?" Yang asked in return as she smashed in the skull of a large Beowulf before turning to face her partner.

The black-haired Faunus seemed confused as she looked around the battlefield in search of something. Finally deciding on which direction it came from Blake pointed out saying, "I think I heard screaming coming from that direction."

Indicating as to where she heard the possible screams Yang questioned, "Think it could be more civilians?"

She propelled herself into the air via shotgun blast before coming back down in what looked like a yellow blur as she delivered a powerful ground smash on top of a pack of Creepers.

"Better to check just to make sure. We _are_ trying to save as many lives as we can remember?" Weiss reminded them as both girls nodded in agreement.

"Okay Blake, go and check out that screaming you heard. If it's a civilian in need make sure to get them to safety, if it's just Grimm then you come back to us for back up. No need to fight alone." Ruby ordered as she gave her teammate a reassuring smile before shooting herself forward towards a fairly large Ursa.

Understanding her objective Blake made her way towards the west side of where the train had breached the city streets.

After vaulting over some fallen rubble and cutting down Grimm along the way, she soon arrived at the central park of this part of Vale.

Rubble littered the entire plaza as she noticed the blood stains covering certain parts of the ground. She could see that not all of it was Grimm blood as she called out, "Hello?"

She was met with pure silence as even the sound of the fight she left behind seemed to lower in volume.

' _Why is it so cold?'_ She thought as she instinctively brought her arms up and rubbed them to get some warmth as a cold shiver escaped her. That was when she heard a long groan coming from an alleyway just across from the park.

Heading over there and calling out again, the groaning sounded once more in greater volume.

' _A civilian.'_ She thought relieved as she could help out another in need.

It still weighed down on her mind at how she abandoned Tyrell back on the train. She would have to talk about it with her team later on after this whole breach was dealt with.

It was then that something shot out of the alleyway that smacked into her with great force.

Quickly recovering and regaining her footing she thought, _'A Grimm!? But then where did that groaning-'_ Her thoughts were cut short as she had to dodge away from what appeared to be some giant appendage.

Backing away to further herself away from her assailant, Blake got a better look at whatever was attacking her before her eyes widened in complete surprise.

Standing right before her was Tyrell, whom she assumed didn't make it from the train explosion for having a lack of aura.

A large black appendage, covered in thinly spread out white furs, retracted back into a normal sized arm. He stood hunched over with his sword implanted into the ground as she observed his appearance.

She noted the crimson blood that stained the sword as it dug into the concrete sidewalk in front of the alleyway.

His normally silver armor was stained, as if black tar and red paint had been smeared all over it as well as gashes and cracks in where she assumed injuries had taken place. But then why were there none where she could clearly see large claw marks had-

' _Those injuries were caused by a blade.'_ She thought as she observed the few slashed areas where she knew that a sword had hit. _'Those must have come from when he fought both the lieutenant and that man in black armor.'_

Which raised the question to her: why was he here alone and with nothing around, Grimm or civilian?

"P-professor?" She didn't continue as the arm swept out towards her yet again as she had to leap to the side to avoid being hit. Pointing Gambol Shroud's barrel towards him she shouted out, "Tyrell! It's me Blake!"

It didn't register with the man as he pulled the sword from the ground and began rushing right at her while dragging the abnormally large appendage along the ground.

It wasn't until he was close to her did she realize her mistake of dodging to the right as the arm swung up from the ground before hitting her right side.

It hit like a punch from that Atlesian Paladin that they had fought a while back as she was flung away from him and back into the park.

Her aura absorbed the impact, but when she looked down at her Scroll she saw that she was leaning more on the yellow rather than the green. She did take a few hits from all those Grimm earlier, but she had still been green before she came here.

Trying one last time to try and talk to the man in front of her she said, "I'm sorry that I left you on that train back there! But Weiss is my teammate, and a part of our family. I will not let one of our own die if I can prevent it."

Her words seemed to of actually made him pause as he straightened his back somewhat and lifted his head up so that he could look at her directly.

To her horror, she saw those same white eyes that the man in black armor held back on the train as they starred right into her. She felt their piercing gaze as he asked, "Where is she?"

His voice sounded off. It was still the same one that she has come to recognize but… angrier. There was something else there too as she tried to keep her voice steady as she made her response.

"W-who?" Blake didn't know whoever "she" was as she kept the barrel of her weapon pointed at him with her finger ready on the trigger. She didn't want to shoot anyone, especially not one of Beacon's own staff as he lifted up his still human hand up to his head.

He didn't seem to hear her as he asked again, this time louder and more demanding. "Where _is_ she?!" His hand was shaking as he gripped one of the small silver wings that adorned the top of the helmet.

He soon ripped the metal decoration straight off as only one remained intact as the other was now a warped metal stub.

"I don't- Who-" She didn't get out much else as he let out a screaming so loud that she had felt disoriented for a moment as her ears were ringing.

As she looked up she found him charging at her, sword drawn and directed right at her he howled, "WHERE IS CILLA?!"

…

"Come on everyone she went this way." Ruby urged them on as she led the rest of her team, along with team JNPR to investigate what had happened to Blake. It had been nearly ten minutes since she had left to go and investigate the screaming that she picked up and she has yet to return.

Velvet and her team stayed behind to help clean up the remaining Grimm while Sun and Neptune had went to search for any other civilians in need of help.

It worried her when she saw a small pack of Grimm heading off in Blake's direction not so long after her teammate had departed.

"So what do you guys think caused that screaming?" Jaune asked with concern as well as curiosity lacing his voice as they were almost where Blake had originally headed off to.

They had all head a screaming that sounded nothing like any Grimm that they had fought before, but as soon as she heard it, Yang knew that Blake had to be in some sort of trouble.

The fact that Blake's aura meter had dropped into the red zone hurried their footsteps as they climbed over ruble.

"Perhaps it was a giant lizard Grimm that stood on two legs and breathed fire!" The ever bubbly Nora put in her two cents as they were all hurrying towards the source of the scream. "Ooooo maybe it was a banshee!"

"Nora?" Her partner got her attention instantly before she replied.

"Yes Ren?"

"Not helping."

"I just hope she isn't hurt." A worried Ruby said as they turned around the street corner only to see a fast flying object coming straight at them.

"Is that-" Weiss began before Yang shouted out, "Blake!"

Propelling herself into the air to save her flying partner Yang caught Blake mid-air before the momentum the girl held carried both backwards. Managing to land on her feet, Yang quickly looked down to see her injured partner.

Blake was cover in multiple cuts, where most had been small but a few that were concerning and bleeding, as well as dark bruises on a majority of her arms. A few coughs emitted from the worn girl before her eyes began to flutter open.

"What happened?" A concerned Pyrrha asked as a shadow seemed to cover the blonde brawler's eyes.

She knew that those cuts were inflicted upon Blake not by claws, but a weapon when she inspected the wounds more closely. Gently setting the injured girl down while supporting her head Yang asked in barely held back anger, "Blake. _Who_ did this to you?" Her tone was nothing buy serious as Blake struggled to keep herself conscious.

"He- it… how?" She sounded like she was in complete shock before she began to shake uncontrollably. Closing her eyes, the Faunus fell unconscious before Yang turned to the Schnee heiress, "Weiss, can you look after her?"

Met with a nod, the heiress placed a hand beneath Blake's head to keep it from hitting the ground while Yang stood up.

"I've already called for a medical unit to come by, but they said that you'll have to come to them since that's where their set up." Ren informed which set them somewhat at ease before the same screaming came from further ahead.

Crimson eyes flared as Yang didn't wait for any of them before dashing forward into cloud of dust that had gathered around the park.

"Yang wait!" Ruby called out before getting ready herself to sprint into the fray. Before she did, however, she turned around and asked, "Pyrrha, could you and Jaune help Weiss get Blake back to the medical unit?"

"Of course." Pyrrha agreed without hesitation as the young reaper then turned towards her first friend at Beacon.

"You can count on us Ruby." With a nod of agreement to both of them, Ruby activated her semblance to go and catch up with her sister.

"Let's go Renny! It's time to go and catch us a fire-breathing lizard banshee!" Nora shouted out with absolute glee before running after the two siblings.

Sighing to himself at his best friend's wild imagination, Ren ran after them to help out; as well as to make sure Nora didn't get herself hurt.

They managed to all catch up to Yang shortly after she rushed ahead.

"Yang! Why did you just rush into battle without us?!" Ruby asked in as angry a voice that a young girl her age could muster. "Did you even have a plan?"

The blond seemed to calm a little as she turned to face her younger sister with an even stare. "Ruby, someone hurt Blake badly. You think that I'm just going to stand around and conjure up some plan when whoever harmed my partner is not even thirty yards away from us?!"

The screaming, now much louder since they had gotten closer, echoed as if it were all around them. It was loud to each of them as Ren brought up his hands over his ears to block some of it out.

"Aww who needs a plan when you can just blow up whatever tries to kill you?" Cocking her weapon and facing it towards the thick dust that had gathered, the energetic Valkyrie held a big grin as she spotted two Beowolves appear from the mist. "~I see you!"

But before she could launch an explosive heart towards the two unaware Grimm, something bigcame out from the dust cloud and snatched one of the Beowolves entirely.

The second turned to face the direction of the four Hunters before it. It didn't even get a howl out to its brethren before something chewed its head right off.

"What was that?" Ren asked as he saw a petrified Ruby look onwards with a pale face.

"Was that a… Grimm?" Even Nora wasn't sure as she kept her finger on the trigger of Magnhild's grenade launcher. "Whatever it is, let's kick its ass." Yang finished off before punching both of her fists together, sending out a small shockwave towards where the thing was hiding in the mist. "Come out you-"

She didn't finish the call out as she, along with the rest of them, widened their eyes in horror at, not _it_ , but who stood before them.

There in the middle of the park, right next to a crumbling fountain, was Tyrell, but their attention soon shifted to what had become of his left arm.

Instead of the silver armor that normally adorned his arm that held his signature silver shield, was a large withering black mass covered in thin white fur.

It resembled that of an arm (somewhat), but far larger than normal, and the hand had been converted into some sort of mouth. A black maw held actual human teeth chewed the remains of the second Beowulf's head.

It shot out with lightning speed before devouring the rest of the carcass of the dead creature. Along with eating what remained of the Grimm, it also seemed to be breathing in whatever black mist came off of the carcass.

They all stood there, stunned, as nothing remained of the Beowulf within mere seconds.

"Look." Even though he felt shaken up by his friend's appearance, he kept a cool head as he pointed out what was happening to Tyrell's shoulder. When they all took notice of his shoulder Ruby cringed while both Yang and Nora looked disgusted at the sight.

The black mass was spreading along his body as it gained more power from the Grimm's black mist.

Tendrils that attached the mass to the rest of his body snaked across and over his shoulder. It stopped spreading once it reached just a little over the left side of his chest.

Yang's eyes then dropped down towards his once silver sword as it was stained with both Grimm and what she assumed was Blake's blood. She was charging straight at him with a barely suppressed rage as soon as she laid eyes on the crimson blood that no doubt belonged to her partner.

"Yang wait!" This time it was Ren who issued the command, but the vengeful blond ignored him as a fist reared back right before coming into contact with the man's chest.

His armor surprisingly held for the most part to the surprise of them all. It only dented in somewhat as he looked down at the fist in his chest before looking right back at her.

Crimson eyes looked into tiny white pupils as Tyrell spoke to her.

" **Mother? Is that you?"** He said in soft tones that to Yang sounded like multiple people were speaking all at once.

"What?" She said before quickly bringing up both arms to shield herself from the sword trying to cut her. It hit harder than she remembered as she blocked it with her right gauntlet. However she failed to block the arm's own punch that sent her flying back towards Ruby and the others.

Looking up she saw it shrink back down to the size it was before as she now felt the force behind that attack.

"That _thing_ hits really hard." Her aura managed to shield her from most of the blow as she felt her semblance beginning to heat up, but she knew that she would have to be wary of that arm.

"Then as the only one who is actually a leader here I declare myself in charge." Ruby pointed to herself as none of them objected. "Yang, you and Nora try to keep the _arm_ distracted."

Ren, you look for an opening while they distract him to try and knock him out. I'll pick off any Grimm that try and join the battle to prevent it from" She shivers at the very thought, "Eating anymore."

"Sounds like a solid plan Ruby," Ren said with Nora and a fuming Yang also agreeing. "But we should keep our guard up. Who knows what else that arm is capable of?"

"That's still Tyrell guys, and until we figure out what's going on we should try not to hurt him." Ruby added right before he let out another one of those screams, but this one sounded more like a crazed laughter.

" **WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE!"** A crazed Tyrell shouted out to the heavens as he looked around frantically for something that none of them could see. **"Don't be scared Cilla. It's me, your friend."** His voice calmed down at the mention of this "Cilla" before the arm lashed out towards them.

" **What have you done to her?!"** He bellowed as the arm's 'mouth' opened up before a large spear of sorts shot out from within.

They all dodged out of the way as Yang and Nora went in to engage. "I don't think he's the one we should be worrying about getting hurt here Ruby." Yang said as she launched a volley of blasts towards their teacher.

The arm extended to block the dust rounds when a warped vortex came from the mouth to defend Tyrell. He was pushed back a few feet, but other than that he took no damage as far as they could tell.

It didn't take Yang long to load in two more rounds of shells into Ember Celica. Nora took the opportunity to run ahead and launch two grenades at Tyrell before using one to launch herself into the air.

Transforming Magnhild into its hammer form, Nora swung herself forward as she descended down upon the knight. "Now Yang!" She shouted as the hammer made contact with the strange vortex like shield.

Cracks erupted from underneath Tyrell as the arm shook from the impact made by the greathammer, but it held firm as he said, **"You two always looked down at those around you. Thinking yourselves better than all the rest-"** He was interrupted as Yang came in at full throttle and landed a hit right to his stomach.

" **Aaaahhhh!"** His screams were distorted and chilling as Yang didn't stop at just one punch. Sending blow after blow all over his chest and abdomen, Tyrell was being forced back as the blond continued her onslaught.

With one final punch to his chest, Yang sent their professor crashing down to the ground. But she was surprised how he managed to stand back up not a moment later as his arm extended faster than she could dodge and wrapped its maw around her throat.

Silence filled the battlefield as Tyrell didn't even notice the sniper-scythe pointed right at his head as Ruby was about to pull the trigger.

That was until he spoke in his new, but weird multi-voice.

" **We cared for you Cilla; you were always like family to the two of us, but then why? Why did you hide this secret from us?"** He drew Yang closer.

Close enough that she saw right into the two white pupils that shown bright within the darkness of the dented helmet. She also saw how they didn't seem to be looking at her directly, but somewhere else that she couldn't see.

" **Did you not consider us your family as well? Are you like the others who abandoned us?"** There was sadness in the voices that became his voice as he actually released Yang, who made sure to take a few steps back afterwards.

"Ruby, I'm going to go knock him out while he's distracted. Keep your weapon trained on him, but please avoid causing any more casualties than necessary. Vale has already suffered through enough today." The young girl nodded as the quiet teen made his way over towards the two as silently as a snake.

" **We would always play when no one else was around. Just the three of us."** Ren was halfway there when he continued, **"Heh, remember when my brother and I made that sculpture of you?"** Their teacher let out a sad chuckle afterwards as he seemed lost in his own memories it seemed.

Ren was nearly within range to deliver an aura-charged chop to the back of Tyrell's neck. Yang didn't dare look behind him at Ren as that would give him away.

" **I know you didn't mean it, but does that really cushion the blow Cilla?"** His tone had risen in volume as well as the anger in his voice as he continued on. **"Do you know what that did to him?! He wouldn't eat, drink, or do ANYTHING for nearly a month! He gave up on life after what you did to him!"**

Ren was about to deliver the blow to the back of Tyrell's head when he placed a hand in the center of his chest and let out one last sentence.

" **Monsters such as you don't deserve to live…"**

None of them saw it coming as the arm had shot out another pike and impaled it right into Tyrell's center chest. That wasn't what had Nora screaming in agony though, as the pike extended itself and impaled right into Ren as well.

The black pike went right through his stomach and out from his back before retracting itself from both teacher and student.

Ren fell over onto the ground as a small pool of blood began to form underneath him as Nora was rushing to his side.

It was a good sigh (to them at least) that he was alive and trying to apply pressure to the wound as Yang went to engage the man before her.

Ruby was about to pull the trigger to send a dust round right through Tyrell's shin bone to render him immobile before the man was covered in a hailstorm of bullets.

...

It was as if waking up from a bad dream.

His eyes slowly opened to a blurry sight of someone kneeling over him. The sky was past their head so he must have been on the ground.

' _What happened?'_ He tried to voice the words, but rather all he heard were muffled out noises that he couldn't decipher.

The figure above him began to clear out a bit until he could make out a few familiar features. Such as blonde hair, a white shirt, a black skirt, and some kind of cape with purple hidden beneath it.

He felt like he knew who it was, but he couldn't recall who as everything seemed so foggy when he tried to remember what had happened last.

All he could recall was… a school with children whom he had come to… be friends with? Was that it? Running through long metal tubes filled with boxes, and fighting a shadow of sorts.

Painful nightmares.

That he chose to leave in the fog of his mind.

Everything was really foggy as he could feel a headache coming on from trying to force the memories to come back to him.

He felt his fingers flexing on his left hand as he tried to lift his arm up to try and touch the figure above him.

They immediately backed away when he did this.

As if surprised that he could move at all.

' _Do not be afraid.'_ He wanted to say as he let his hand fall limply to the ground and the figure relaxed somewhat. A few more muffled words were passed between the figure and others he could neither hear nor see.

It was after the figure had finished talking was when they placed their hands upon his chest. He felt their hands make contact with his bare skin as he wondered why his armor was removed in the first place.

He found it strange how warm their hands were against his cold skin. They too seemed to realize this as he felt their hands shiver in response to the contact.

They soon began to say more words that he couldn't comprehend since everything still sounded muffled to him.

He felt his eyes widen in shock as the warmth from the figures hands spread all over his body. He felt warm all over, as if sitting next to a warm fire while having a grand time with friends. Any aches and pains that he felt at the moment seemed to wash away as the warmth continued to spread throughout his body.

He didn't want this feeling to stop and last forever, but, as all good things do it came to an end.

He felt lighter than air at the moment and wished to thank this person for what they had done for him.

His vision cleared up so that he could now see who it was that helped him. She wore clear reading glasses and green eyes starred at his grey ones in utter silence.

He could feel himself smile as he mouthed the words "thank you" to her as he closed his eyes momentarily and felt at peace with the world.

When he opened them, the woman was gone and replaced with something straight out of his nightmares.

A black, humanoid in shape, entity replaced the kind woman as its hungry white eyes looked straight into his soul.

He saw the humanity sprite that lay in the entity's chest as white veins spread out from the center of it and into the black void that was its body. He wanted to get up and flee as he didn't want to relive those painful nightmares all over again as he tried to move.

He couldn't move at all as it drew closer to him.

That warmth that was there moments ago had turned into a thick poison that was eating away at his insides as the darkness spread all over him. He could feel his mind, body, and soul begin to extinguish as he tried to fight for control.

It was no use as the entity opened its mouth to reveal the white walls that was its mouth and sharp teeth that looked like they could tear right through him.

' _No.'_

Its teeth clamped down on his soul that seemed to of come right out of his chest without him noticing. Like greeting an old friend it drew closer to the awaiting maw of the nightmare.

' _Please… no.'_

It's horribly sharp teeth clamped down onto his soul as he started to scream in pain. It was as if he was being torn apart from his body as the tiny white tether holding his soul to his physical body was about to rip.

It tried to pull it fully into its maw before both he and the entity noticed the golden tether that held his soul to him. It tried to pull his soul away again, but the tether held strong.

Each tug on the tether caused him extreme agony as he screamed for the torment to end.

He looked up to see a grey sky with black clouds and the same black armored figure that haunted his dreams for what felt like an eternity.

" **Still you resist me."** It didn't sound angry, but more disappointed as it sighed heavily and continued. **"My Lord, I have failed you this time it seems."**

He didn't know what to think of the phantom that lurked in his mind as it reached down towards his face while saying, **"But that does not mean that I cannot keep trying."**

Its hand completely covering his sight, it was as if he was back in the Abyss. He couldn't help the whimper that escaped his lips as darkness surrounded him once more.

* * *

 **Wow that one was a doozy. Took me way longer than what I planned and I'm sorry for making you all wait for so long.**

 **When I first wrote out this chapter and went back to read it, I didn't feel like it was good enough. Still don't but after a revision and adding some more meat in I felt that it came out fairly decent at the end.**

 **One part that I really did enjoy though was that choice that Blake needed to make. I thought to myself what she would do in a situation like that. Save her teammate or her professor (with no aura mind you)? I felt that she would ultimately pick Weiss and just have to deal with the consequences/guilt later on.**

 **Trying to keep my ANs shorter from now on so if you have any questions, want to discuss Volume 3, etc. then leave a review or PM me. Either works.**

 **Thank you all for sticking with me for this long and I will talk to you all in the next update!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey everyone, been a while hasn't it?**

 **I was on vacation for a week for my high school's senior trip and I couldn't bring my laptop with me. So this got pushed back a bit.**

 **Really happy to announce that after this chapter (and possibly one more) we will be moving on from Volume 2 and entering V3. I wanted to mention this before you get into the chapter though.**

 **I won't be concentrating on the fights of canon as much, but rather a few new "twists" that I have added in will get the spotlight instead. So I'm hoping that all of you don't mind that as I don't want to drag out V3 as much as I did V2. Heh… my bad.**

 **Anyway onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **A Man with Two Souls**_

She had just finished up with sealing up the breach from which the apparent explosion had originated from. She sighed to herself as she was thankful that casualties of civilians had been kept to a minimum and her students none.

Glynda felt her Scroll buzz within her pocket.

Pulling out the handy device and opening the message she wasn't surprised to see that it had been from Ozpin. Her eyes widened slightly as she read the news delivered to her from the Headmaster.

No time was wasted as the disciplinarian made haste to where Ozpin and three of Beacon's teams were waiting.

With only a few short flicks of her crop ruble and debris were moved out of her way entirely as she headed down the alleyway towards her destination. When she arrived she saw an appalling sight.

There before her stood Ozpin along with Ms. Rose and Ms. Adel as both leaders were speaking to Ozpin. That wasn't what had her worried as she spotted team JNPR along with Ms. Xiao-Long and Ms. Schnee gathered around a medical Bullhead.

Medics were escorting two injured students, Mr. Lie and Ms. Belladonna, onto stretchers and into the awaiting vehicle.

"Ozpin." She called out as she walked over to the usually calm man. But, he looked more stressed than usual as shadows seemed to be cast underneath his tired eyes.

"Glynda, good to see you unharmed." The man brightened up a bit at seeing her as the two team leaders turned to face her.

"What happened to Mr. Lie and Ms. Belladonna?" She questioned straight away as her concern for her students began to break her usual mask of discipline.

"Both Ms. Rose and Adel were just telling me about the… incident that they had witnessed. Over here Glynda." The man motioned for all three of them to follow as he lead them over to where three of Atlas's new Knights stood guard over what she thought was the corpse of Tyrell.

Knowing that he would explain she held her tongue (along with a gasp) when she saw the Sentinel's chest slowly move up and then down.

"According to Ms. Rose, Sir Tyrell had attacked Ms. Belladonna without hesitance before soon coming after them." Ruby seemed to shuffle a little uncomfortably in her spot, and it wasn't just being near the teacher who had attacked them. "They all claimed that he was spouting nonsense in what sounded like multiple voices speaking all at once."

The man took a quick glance down at the Sentinel's left arm before saying, "They also claim that his left arm was covered in some sort of black, tar-like substance."

It was then that she glanced to the unconscious man's arm. It seemed to be normal as far as she could tell, however, the multiple laceration wounds and paled skin spoke otherwise.

"After a small bout of fighting with Ms. Rose and the others, Mr. Lie had gotten closer to Tyrell to attempt to knock the man out, but"

He paused to shake his head slightly in confusion, as if not believing what he was about to say himself. "It was then that Sir Tyrell placed his "black, teeth covered hand," as Ms. Rose has put it, to his chest and proceeded to impale himself along with Mr. Lie with some sort of black spear."

The disciplinarian just looked at the fifteen year old girl with a raised brow as Ruby just shrugged in response.

"What happened to him afterwards?" She wanted to know what had gotten the man into such a state to attack students whom he had gotten to know for some time now.

"It was right before Ms. Xiao-Long engaged him was when Ms. Adel and the rest of her team arrived after receiving word about a possible Alpha Grimm from Mr. Arc." Gesturing to the fashion clad leader of team CFVY Ozpin continued.

"After seeing Mr. Lie lying in a small pool of blood, Ms. Adel turned her weapon on Tyrell before firing straight at him."

Glynda wasn't sure whether to praise the girl for saving her fellow classmates or suspend her entire team for harming one of the staff.

"Ms. Rose, Ms. Adle. You both may go back to your teams to check up on them. You both will be responsible for filling out a report on this once you return to Beacon." Both nodded at the dismissal as each headed off in different directions to their own teammates.

Waving off the three Atlesian Knights, Ozpin just starred at the slowly rising and falling chest of the knight. Neither spoke a word as Glynda waited for Ozpin's order in what to do with their fellow teacher.

"Glynda?"

"Yes Ozpin?" She answered immediately.

He sounded even more tired than when the girls were present. Both continued looking on at what should have been a corpse of the knight.

His entire chest, arms, and upper legs were filled with wounds. Some looked to be from punches by Yang where most others had been from the dust infused rounds of Ms. Adel's gun. His chest had taken the most of the damage as the metal had been ripped apart and even past the chainmail underneath showing parts of his bleeding chest.

One large chunk of his right breastplate had been torn off (most likely from one of Yang's punches) and she could see something hiding underneath-

"I have yet to call any paramedics over to help him since I arrived. Do you know why?" He said it in a casual manner as she was brought out of her thoughts as the thought struck her.

Why _hadn't_ he called over any medical staff to get Tyrell to the infirmary? Surely since the man was still alive he would need desperate medical aid if he were to continue to stay that way.

"No I do not." She honestly didn't know as she would like to get to the bottom of what exactly happened here. But the students could only provide so much.

He hummed in silent acknowledgement of her lack of knowledge of why there were no medics helping the man. Strolling to the opposite side of Tyrell, Ozpin looked up at to her before giving his answer.

"I haven't called over any because no man alive, aura or not, could have sustained wounds such as these and still be breathing. So I've asked myself exactly what had been keeping him alive as of right now. And do you know the answer Glynda?"

She shook her head once again as she finally turned her attention away from Tyrell and onto the Headmaster who's side she's been by for so long.

"The black flame." Was all he said before, as if hearing them mention it, Tyrell awoke screaming in perpetual agony as the Knights turned their rifles on the screaming man.

Glynda took a step back as she saw as single white pupil appear within Tyrell's left eye. It illuminated the dark shadow that covered his face from the helmet, and she saw the agony that was within those eyes.

"I **control this** \- my body!" For that split second she now felt more compelled to believe Ms. Rose's story as she heard what sounded like a chorus of voices speaking in union.

The poor man continued to squirm in agony as he seemed to be fighting with himself as his right arm seized his own throat before squeezing tightly. Glynda had her crop out and ready to stop him from chocking himself out before Ozpin appeared right behind him.

The Headmaster delivered an Aura charged chop to the back of his neck before catching the man. Gently resting him back down and waving off the rifles Ozpin stood and spoke, "I believe that it's killing him Glynda. If Bartholomew was here I'm sure-"

"What about his aura Ozpin?" She dared to ask, cutting him off.

"I don't know. We don't know anything about the black flame or how it could affect anyone who comes into contact with it." His reasoning wasn't wrong as they held little to nothing about the flame ever since Tyrell had first arrived.

"But what if unlocking his aura is the only way to save him?" This had Ozpin in thought for a long moment; before Glynda took notice of Tyrell's left arm begin to rise slightly.

Not waiting for him to make a decision she cast her crop out before pinning his entire body down with her semblance. With another movement of her hand she had the torn piece of his breastplate ripped off.

She noted how resilient it was as she went and kneeled down over him. What she saw plastered right in the center of his chest disgusted her to say the least.

Right in front of her was what looked to be some kind of growth. Starting right in the middle of his chest was a small dark circle that then spread out it's tendrils over a good portion of what she could see.

It was grey and pale for the most part as the circle in the center was just pure black, except for the small white dot that could barely be seen within the dark spot.

Placing her hands upon his chest she began to cite the ancient script to unlocking one's aura.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. That through this we become a vessel of both virtue and glory to rise above all else. Infinite in distance and released from death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

She felt both her and his souls connecting through the bond now shared between them. But all she could see was an eternal black sea when she opened her eyes.

Darker than that of a Grimm's hide and infinite, Glynda felt herself being watched as she looked around the void in search of who or what exactly was watching her. This was bad as she had never come across anything similar through her studies on aura.

It was then that she looked down at where her feet met the "ground" to find countless white eyes staring back up at her. She wanted to let go now to allow the connection between their souls to end so she could wake up.

However she felt that she couldn't as white mist began to pool around her from out of nowhere. Her feet were imbedded as she saw the eyes disappear beneath the mist. When she looked up she saw one thing rising up from the thick mist.

' _The black flame.'_ She thought.

It took the shape of a man, which then covered himself in a black armor that looked similar to Tyrell's. He carried a great battle axe on his back along with a shield also similar to Tyrell's strapped onto his left arm.

Within his hand he clutched a tiny white ball that she assumed must have been Tyrell's soul.

She wanted to end the connection _now_ as she could feel herself growing colder by the second as she gazed into two of those glowing, white eyes.

" _ **This intrusion will not go unpunished."**_ Was all he said in the same voice that Tyrell used earlier. Before she could react the man was before her as he quickly grabbing _through_ her chest and clutched her soul.

The feeling was unlike anything that she had ever felt before as she actually felt as if her body was being frozen all over. Besides feeling like she was frozen, it was as though all the joyous memories from her entire life were being taken away by the black flame.

Through eyes that were not her own she saw different scenes being played out before her.

One included seeing two men (one might have been a woman, but it was hard to tell by the robes they wore) in both armor and robes that were completely foreign to her; they were discussing a topic she couldn't hear while resting at a bonfire of sorts.

The one on the left wore what looked to be a full body chainmail set along with a metal mask to cover their face. A broadsword and small blue metal shield were strapped to their side. He was the male she guessed due to his build and flat, but broad, chest.

The one to the right wore clothing that she couldn't put anything to match.

To be frank she looked as if she was someone who only wore rags, but upon closer inspection she noticed beads and feathers that hung around their chest. The hood was pulled up so Glynda couldn't see if they were male or female.

The decorations around their neck also covered their chest so she had a hard time telling their gender.

Soon the scene shifted to one of a battle.

Taking place in a dark cave of sorts as the two companions from the first vision, along with the one whose eyes she looked through, were fighting what looked to be a small army of _living skeletons_.

Some were of normal height while others clearly towered over them as a fairly giant skeleton raised an ancient curved sword and brought it down atop the eyes that she looked through.

She wasn't prepared (for any of this really) as the scene shifted to that of a long bridge.

Off in the distance was a castle gate that she believed to have been near ancient as the cobblestone that had made the walls were covered in green moss and cracks.

The eyes turned to face a great monstrosity that made even her shake at the sight.

A red scaled dragon stood behind both her and whoever she was watching this from as it stood at the end of the bridge. Horns adorned its head as a long snout pointed out to make it have a somewhat diamond shape.

The dragon spread its mighty wings before rearing its head back as the eyes shifted to the flames gathering within its maw. Flames licked the rows of sharp teeth as the drake lowered its head to the bridge before launching a long torrent of flames in their direction.

Scorching fire ran over the entirety of the bridge with each second bringing them closer to their death.

A white flash engulfed her vision just before the flames made contact as the black flame reared its hand back in pain. A small distorted hiss was let out from him as it clutched the stump that had once been the hand that grasped her soul.

" _ **Wha- how?!"**_ It screamed at seemingly itself as it looked up to her in confusion.

Glynda was just as lost as he was, but before she knew it he held out his now _regrown_ hand before ending the connection between her and Tyrell by force.

She should have felt relieved when she opened her eyes a second later to find her hands still resting against the Sentinel's chest. Pulling them away quickly out of fear rather than embarrassment, Glynda felt nauseous from the whole experience.

When she looked back down at him, she noticed his left arm rising yet again, trying to reach up to her.

She still held her semblance over him, but she backed away to avoid his touch out of fear of what darkness lay within his soul.

But she had eased a little when she took notice of how both his eyes were not glowing white. His aura was now unlocked, and whatever that black flame had done to him had seemed harmed by her soul in some way.

None of this made sense to her as she felt herself falling down before she lost consciousness. Hands caught her before everything went dark as she feared that she was back in that horrid abyss.

…

 _Flashes of things that he did not understand presented themselves to him in quick sequence._

 _Some were short and too fast for him to comprehend while others were long enough for him to grasp enough to understand what exactly he was seeing._

 _It was as if he were just a common onlooker gazing in through the glass windows of a building. But instead of glass windows he gazed through the eyes of someone else and into their memories._

 _A flash, one of the faster ones, showed only a glimpse of what appeared to be a village on fire. Blurs of orange, red and yellow filled up most of his vision, but he didn't feel the need to squint his eyes in response to the bright color._

 _The eyes were far enough away to be able to see the entire settlement as flames ate at the small wooden buildings and huts. The eyes soon shifted to that of two others._

 _Both faces were blurred as he saw one figure clad in a black and green suit kneeling down next to the other. They both were male in appearance as the green one was applying bandages to the other one's stump of an arm._

 _Before anything else could happen, the scene faded away into a white mist._

" _To what does the next hold I wonder?" Tyrell asked himself as, soon enough, another scene began to take form before him._

 _This one was much less significant as it only showed the hands of the eyes' owner holding a book teaching about combat exercises._

" _Why read when you could just practice?" The knight asked himself in an almost bored tone as he looked on to see the scene fade and be replaced with another._

 _This had been going on for a while now ever since he had "awoken" from whatever that woman did to him when he was injured. He must have been injured since he was on the ground and facing the sky. Right?_

 _He couldn't recall anything prior to opening his eyes to find that woman kneeling above him. Tyrell knew that he wasn't actually "up" yet as he seemed to be stuck having to watch the memories of that woman. He only assumed they were hers considering she was the one that had last come into contact with him._

 _So here he was, trapped within this coma like state as he tried to make sense of the memories that he was watching._

 _It would only be a matter of time before he came across something of value as he had just finished witnessing the woman set a steak on fire as she cooked it over an oven of sorts._

 _Sighing to himself, Tyrell prepared for the next memory to appear in front of him._

 _She was standing with three others in what appeared to be an elevator. On her right and left was the green suited man and a fairly tall fellow clad in mainly white._

 _Out of the corner of her eye he could see the third figure standing somewhat hunched over as he drank from a small silver flask._

' _An Estus Flask?' He thought in wonder as he noticed a small drop of what looked like golden liquid escape past the man's lips and dribble down his chin._

 _The man in green, who also held a cane Tyrell just noticed, placed in a specific code onto the elevator floor-panel. He memorized the code exactly as this memory could prove useful information in the future._

 _The machine began to descend for a while as none of them said anything to the other. Or maybe they were and he just couldn't hear them again._

 _All those that he viewed he seemed to be able to only do just that. View them, but not hear what anyone had said throughout all the memories._

 _It took much longer to reach whatever floor they intended upon than he realized as the doors finally opened slowly to reveal what appeared to be a seemingly endless hallway._

 _A dull white and green tiled floor stretched on until he (and who's eyes he looked through) couldn't see any further. Large green pillars stretched up towards the ceiling from what he could tell along with small torches burning between each space between the pillars._

 _To be so far underneath wherever this place is located, Tyrell began wondering what could possibly be kept here._

 _After stepping out of the elevator and walking for what seemed like only two minutes, the eyes in which he saw through (along with the other three members) laid their sights on what appeared to him as a large coffin._

 _Hooked up to machinery that he couldn't even begin to describe did he notice that there were two._

 _The one on the right was empty as the see-through glass held nothing behind it. However, the one to their left held a (living) person._

 _Only her privates and chest were covered with a white garb as the rest of her tanned skin was left exposed. His "host" moved closer to the woman within the coffin's glass. Upon closer inspection he could see that the woman inside was injured to some extent._

 _Major scarring was plastered across her face as a majority of it covered her left eye. Brown locks fell down to her exposed neck as Tyrell saw how his host placed her hand up to the glass._

 _His eyes widened in conformation as he saw her reflection in the glass._

 _It was the same woman that had healed him after… after… what had happened to him to call for a healer?_

 _The memory began to fade away into the darkness, along with the woman's face._

" _Wait! Please!" He reached out to grasp it before it disappeared, but it was too late as all he gripped in his hand was the entrails of mist._

" _Don't go…" He whispered to himself as he curled up into a ball within the endless abyss that he was trapped in._

In the waking world, Dr. Cronin was injecting Tyrell with an ice dust sedative to calm his patient down. He was docile in his bed just moments ago as Nurse Benson was replacing his I.V.

The man had awoken suddenly and made a grab for Benson as the woman yelped in shock as Tyrell's hand wrapped tightly around her throat.

Calling in the two Atlas guards that were stationed right outside his room (courtesy of General Ironwood) they managed to relieve Ms. Benson of the crazed man's grip.

As she was knelt down on the floor, gasping for breath, Dr. Cronin quickly reached for the sedative and ordered the Red Guard to hold down Tyrell's arms. The Blue Guard had taken the liberty to keep his pistol trained on his patient's head in case it became necessary.

"Put that away!" Cronin yelled out as he injected the ice dust sedative into the still thrashing man's left arm. Soon he began to calm as the sedative began to register throughout his body and in less than a minute the Red Guard let go of Tyrell.

"Both of you out." Cronin ordered as the Red Guard piped up saying, "But Doctor, we were ordered to stay here in case he becomes 'excited' again."

"If you're going to be waving weapons around in here like some itchy gunman then you can wait outside. I'll call you in incase something else occurs." Cronin was helping Benson up as the Red Guard began to protest.

"Doctor-"

"Out. _Now_." With that the two guards left the medical room in silence as Cronin sent out Benson as well to go and get some water.

Burying his face between both hands, Cronin sighed in frustration as he took the only seat right next to the poor soul.

Ever since the breach in Vale occurred nearly over a month ago, they had brought in this hell of a handful. At first, both Dr. Cronin and Dr. Oobleck took care of Mr. Tyrell to help heal some of his more serious injuries.

Bullet wounds nearly everywhere, infected claw marks from Grimm, a few deep cuts from a bladed weapon, and a serious concussion to the head from god knows what. Most of his ribs were broken and/or fractured along with severe burn marks all along his left arm.

Those burn marks were unlike anything that Cronin had ever seen before. At first, the skin there seemed almost unharmed, just some loss in color and a slightly unhealthy number of cuts.

But as time went on it was as if the arm was withering and actually _dying_.

When they looked for any signs of this decay along the rest of his body they found nothing similar to what was happening to the man's arm. When Oobleck tried physical Aura therapy both were taken by surprise at the results. Before long they saw rapid recovery of his left arm as the decay simply just disappeared over time.

He couldn't explain any of it really.

In fact the only thing that he could tell about his patient was that however he had survived this attack must have also been the reason for all the scars that riddled his chest, back and neck.

What disturbed him, even more so than the arm decaying, was the "growth" that sat right atop his slowly rising and falling chest.

It looked as if something had branded the man as the dark ring around the center of the growth seemed to be the cause of it. The countless veins (or vines? he couldn't tell) spread outward from the dark ring and covered only the middle of his chest.

Unfortunalty for Dr. Cronin, Dr. Oobleck had ceased checking up on Tyrell a few weeks ago to continue his teaching duties within Beacon, and to cover for poor Mr. Port.

The man was wheeled in a week after the breach had occurred being rushed to the emergency room. A Bullhead had headed off to retrieve both Port and the group of students that he was assigned to for the first year students' first official mission.

Dr. Cronin wasn't a part of that surgery, but from what he had heard from the other nurses and doctors was that if it wasn't for Mr. Port's aura, he might have lost his right arm.

The only other part that Cronin heard about the whole ordeal was that the students were presumed KIA, as they weren't present with the Beacon professor when the Bullhead arrived.

As the only other Beacon school doctor available to take on such a patient, as most were either occupied with still recovering students or found some other medical issue to look into, Cronin was stuck with the unconscious man until he would eventually wake up.

Without descending into a mad fit of hysteria and hallucinations.

…

A few days had passed since Tyrell's latest outburst and, although reluctant at first, Nurse Benson walked into the room to check up on Dr. Cronin's patient.

Besides his sudden outbursts throughout the last month since he was brought into Beacon's infirmary, the man slept through the entire day no matter how noisy it was here.

It didn't surprise her really as most patients in this deep of a coma could sleep through anything. Checking out the medical clipboard attached to the end of the bed she recalled a young hunter-in-training who was once brought in after head butting a Boarbatusk thinking that her head was stronger.

If it wasn't for her aura and thick skull she would have died.

"Kids these days." She snickered as she looked up at the now awake Tyrell.

She immediately backed away before remembering the additional leather straps he was trapped under after yesterday's incident.

Only feeling slightly relieved she removed herself from the wall and spoke in a slightly shaken voice, "Mr. Tyrell? A-are you feeling alright?" She didn't know why she was nervous of the man as she had dealt with agitated patients such as him in the past.

He didn't say anything to her as he only continued to stare at her in complete and utter silence.

"I-I'll go and get Dr. C-Cronin. Let him know you're awake." She was inching herself towards the door as his eyes followed her every step of the way. Feeling for the handle while holding her stare with the man, she finally grasped her hand around the handle.

She felt something coil around her hand when she grasped the cool metal handle with her sweating fingers.

Able to tear here eyes away from his unyielding gaze for a moment, Benson looked down to find that literal _roots_ were wrapped around the door handle. They were almost completely covering her entire hand had she not yanked it away quickly.

Dark, almost black, roots were covering the entire door which served as her only escape route. Well unless she wanted to take a chance and jump out of the three story high window.

' _At least I'd be right next to the infirmary.'_ She tried to calm herself with some humor, but it failed as she looked again at Tyrell. She was back up against the wall again when she took note of how both his eyes glowed white and stared blankly at her own two brown.

About to call out for help, the man looked towards the door and pointed in its direction. She hesitantly followed his finger to a sight that both shocked and horrified her to the core.

There, standing as if it hadn't been three years since his death, was her husband Alex. He stood in his Vacuo military uniform as he gave her a warm smile that she so desperately missed after all these years.

"Helen? I've missed you so much dear." He said in his light voice as she gazed into those hazelnut eyes of his.

It couldn't be real as the Bullhead carrying Alex's unit had been taken down by Nevermore's. The ship had crashed in the deeper part of the Fireside Valley where Grimm activity was higher.

None were present as a rescue unit had arrived a few hours later, but to her it was too late and that was why she moved over to Vale and took up a nursing position at Beacon.

"Baby?" She asked hesitantly as she reached out to touch him, but pulled back her hand. She feared that if she touched him then he would shatter and be lost to her all over again.

"It's me babe. In the flesh." He patted his uniform and, to her complete awe and joy, she heard the pounding of his chest. Running forward to Alex and into his awaiting arms, Helen buried her face in his chest as she stroked his trimmed black military haircut.

"Oh… Alex." She didn't know what to say as she was overcome with so much joy as she just wanted this moment to last forever.

"Hey. Baby?" He called her as he kissed her hair.

"Yes dear?" She shifted her neck so she could look up and into those hazel eyes.

She screamed.

Instead of Alex's beautiful hazelnut eyes, they had been gouged out and only two black pits shown there instead. Dried blood ran down from the pits as if he had been crying.

His face and entire body became some kind of withered corpse as his skin became a dark reddish brown and thinned down to the bone. It was horrible as she tried to escape from his embrace, but he was too strong for her as the same dark roots from before began wrapping themselves around both her and Alex.

"Would you die so we can be together?" Two small, glowing white pupils filled the black pits that had become his eyes as he smiled crookedly.

Helen screamed as she managed to free her right arm and deliver a strong right hook at his chin.

It disoriented him enough to allow herself to escape as she turned to find herself in what appeared to be an endless black chasm.

"Don't **be like that** Helen." His voice became distorted somewhat as Helen found herself running to what appeared to be a large white rectangle in the middle of the chasm.

Sprinting for it and away from whatever _that_ was, Helen was about to jump through the white light when she felt a root covered hand grasp her elbow.

" **I know I've been away for awhile dear, but those Grimm tore me limb from limb. You don't know how hard it was to crawl all the way to Vale when you're just a head, half a torso and an arm."** As he described the state of his body, she looked on in silent terror as his right arm detached itself from the rest of him.

His legs were replaced with dark branches and roots as well as the stump that was just his right arm a second ago.

Helen continued to scream as she tried to escape through the only window in this damned endless abyss.

She felt a blow to the back of her head as she then lost consciousness.

The last thing she saw was the ground of Beacon and a small group of students who had gathered thirty feet below her.

Oobleck gently brought the woman back inside of the medical room as he arrived just in time to prevent her from making a terrible mistake.

He had come to relieve Dr. Cronin for the day as the man had been called in to assist in another surgery. Although he had to call in for a substitute for his classes, he was thankful that Peter's limp didn't hinder the man's jovial attitude.

At least in front of the students.

The man had recovered from his wounds, and Oobleck was thankful that his friend only had to use a cane to accompany his limp. But all the staff had seen the shadows that covered Peter's eyes when they would all come together at the teacher's lounge.

"Ms. Benson?! What on Remnant were you thinking?" He asked as she didn't seem to hear him. Noticing that she had fallen unconscious Oobleck went through any possibilities that would elude to why Ms. Benson would try such an act.

He knew of what had happened to her husband a few years ago, but everyone had thought that she had moved on since that tragedy. Oobleck knew basically all the medical staff well enough as he worked with most of Beacon's nurses and doctors on occasion when he was called in.

Although he didn't know her as well as Glynda or Ozpin, he assumed she was happy with her life as far as he knew.

' _So why did you try and jump?'_ He wondered as he called in the two guards from outside to take her to a spare room down the hall.

Once she had been taken care of, Oobleck returned to Tyrell's room to check up on the man. He went through all the normal checkups that Cronin had been assigned, and as he finished Oobleck could only sigh.

Looking at the sleeping knight he asked, "When will you wake up, Tyrell?"

It was soon as he said the man's name did he feel the entire room grow colder.

He felt the chill literally run up his spine as cold fingers placed themselves onto his shoulders. Immediately turning on the spot he found nothing behind him, but he did hear a voice that had made his blood run cold.

" **Hello harbinger."** The voice was male, deeply contorted and echoing.

At first Oobleck thought it to be Tyrell's, but he soon realized that it couldn't be as the man still lay unconscious as the voice continued. **"Once this higher vessel wakes, and his spirit and chains are broken, I will wreak vengeance upon this school and all who belong to it."**

"What makes you so sure that you will be able to accomplish such a task? With only one man's body, you will not make it far." Oobleck had absolutely no idea as to what, or who, he was dealing with as Tyrell remained unconscious.

But he knew that a threat to Beacon was a threat to him as well. He wouldn't be intimidated nor threatened by whatever was speaking.

He felt those cold, phantom fingers tighten their grip on his shoulder as it gave him a warning of sorts.

" **The day hollows charge with the soulless will be the day that everything this school stands for will perish. That day our Lord shall be one step closer to achieving their one true goal."**

"And that goal would be?" Oobleck dared to ask as he heard the distorted laughter of whatever was speaking to him. It sounded like nails scraping against a chalkboard while metal silverware was blended in the blender.

The phantom fingers released his shoulder as he already began to feel the entire room beginning to feel warm again.

" **Not this day, harbinger, but soon."** It seemed to pause for a moment, and just as the last bit of that cold feeling had dispersed, Oobleck heard it whisper into his ear, **"…** _ **This school will feel my wrath…**_ **"**

Oobleck had turned around to face Tyrell's bed to be met with two grey and slightly red eyes looking right back.

"H-Hello… Bartholomew."

…

"By the old lords, what have I done?" Tyrell buried his face into his hands as Bart just finished their discussion on what had occurred after the train successfully breached Vale.

"You were not in the right mindset Tyrell. If what you told me was true, then the situation was completely out of your control." Bart reasoned as he put a comforting hand on Tyrell's shoulder, but deep down he was having a hard time believing the man.

Tyrell seemed reluctant when Oobleck had asked certain questions pertaining to how he had ended up in such a condition in the first place. He claimed it to have been from the train crash and with his lack of aura beforehand, he had suffered great a many wounds.

But what had caused him to attack Beacon students in combat was still in the dark as a knock on the door was heard.

Without waiting for a conformation to enter, both Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch walked into the small, single occupant medical room. Taking the only available seat in the room besides the bed, Ozpin asked in a calm manner, "How are you feeling Tyrell?"

The knight seemed to have been taken off guard from the question as he hesitantly whispered like a child who had been caught stealing a sweet.

"Fine, Headmaster."

His voice had become raspy, cracked, and dry as he looked around the room to find no water to quench his thirst. He avoided any eye contact with either of them when he answered as most guilty did.

"That is good to hear." He took a long sip from his Beacon mug as Tyrell sent a quick glance over to Glynda. He only saw the glare (and not the one from the light reflection on her glasses) that was fixated on him.

Tyrell shrank back into the bed underneath the woman's cold gaze as Ozpin calmly asked, "Bart, could you please give us some time?"

"Of course." Understanding that also implied the two eavesdropping guards from outside, Oobleck headed out and made up a reason as to why the Headmaster needed them elsewhere.

Now only the three of them alone in the room, it was Glynda who was the first to speak.

"Tell us why you attacked four members from both teams RWBY and JNPR. Explain to us why you nearly impaled Mr. Lie's spine; almost putting the boy in a chair for the rest of his life. Tell _us_ how you survived a barrage of Ms. Adel's dust-infused rounds without any aura to be had!"

She commanded each one off as the Sentinel could only feel smaller and smaller with each demand for explanation. There was much concealed anger beneath her words as well when he did not speak.

Ozpin himself then spoke, again in that nerve wracking calm manor.

"And what is your connection with this?" Ozpin then proceeded to bring out his own Scroll to show Tyrell a picture. His eyes widened with shock as he gazed upon seeing himself from behind as he was knelt down and speaking to Abell through the humanity sprite.

"Tyrell, tell us who you really are, and why you've come here." Ozpin calmly ordered as he leaned back into the seat he had taken. A silence filled the room that unnerved Tyrell as he looked into the calm, brown eyes that seemed to bore into him.

He felt dread building up within the pit of his stomach as he couldn't bring himself to answer any of their questions.

A few moments had passed and he saw Glynda raise her crop up just a tad. A warning for him to answer soon, or else there would be consequences.

Ozpin could see the dread forming on the man's face as another minute went by still with all three of them sitting in silence. Ozpin sighed internally to himself as he readjusted himself in the uncomfortable chair in the Beacon infirmary.

"Please Tyrell. We won't get anywhere if you refuse to cooperate, and I don't wish to use more _'forceful'_ methods to get answers." Ozpin spoke in a softer tone to try and truly make Tyrell realize that he didn't mean the man any harm.

It seemed to work, albeit only slightly, as Tyrell's shoulders had lost the tenseness they held.

Tyrell took a deep breath to calm himself down as he spoke quietly.

"Headmaster…" His eyes began to glow as those same two white flames took hold over his pupils. It actually surprised Ozpin when he saw the knight smile at the two of them.

It held no joy in it, but rather seemed forced and slightly hysterical as he continued, "If I told you anything of where I hailed from… **you would have me locked away in a cell and have thrown away the key."**

Silence filled the room once more for a while after that. Ozpin sighed outwardly as he spoke in a tired voice.

"Then you leave me no choice." Reaching for his scroll once more, Ozpin sent a message to James to inform him that Tyrell refused to cooperate. A few minutes passed before Ironwood burst through the door to the medical room.

After a somewhat heated discussion between both the two headmasters, in the end it was decided to place Tyrell under Ironwood's complete authority. They needed answers from the man as Ozpin had long since speculated to whether or not Tyrell was a spy sent by the illusive Queen.

Ironwood had informed Ozpin about how the man would constantly refer to his "Lord" whenever Ironwood interrogated the man.

The medical room in which housed Tyrell had been turned into a cell as now no one but either Ozpin or Ironwood himself was allowed inside. The same two guards were stationed outside the room, but their jobs had become easier as now even both doctors and nurses avoided the knight.

The only reason being after what had almost happened to nurse Benson.

Ironwood had just finished another interrogation with Tyrell tonight. Both his sleeves were rolled up to reveal one muscular and toned arm while the other showed a robotic appendage.

A bit of blood covered both his fists and a bit had been spit onto his chest.

He was beginning to become frustrated at how little he was getting out of the man, but confused as well.

At most times he was mainly reluctant to answer any of Ironwood's questions, and seemed to hold fear of the general whenever it was time for another interrogation.

However, there were a few occasions where the man inside that hospital room changed into someone completely different.

His eyes would glow white and his voice would change into that of a deep male voice that echoed slightly with each word spoken. This other side of Tyrell was the one that yielded the most results for Ironwood, but even then this side sometimes spoke in riddles.

All the new information Ironwood had on the man was scarce and few.

Tyrell claimed to of hailed from a land called "Lordran" and that his "Lord" had liberated them all from something called the "Curse of the Undead."

None of it made sense to Ironwood as he speculated that the man was either lying or insane. There was no place, either within or outside the kingdoms known as Lordran.

Humanity had not held kings, queens, and lords for centuries; so that had begged the question if there was another White Fang out there.

Ironwood knew nothing about this apposed curse, but he would ignore it for now as he put the interrogation behind him and thought of something of more importance.

He had received a call a week prior to this day about the collapse of the smaller CCT located within the Grimmlands.

Apparently a Bullhead had caught the distress message of a panicked soldier coming from the CCT. When they sent it through to him and he played it back, he recalled the small chill running down his spine.

…

" _This is Private *static* Dale of the Atlesian Military! The Grimm have compromised *static* Site B: Communication Tow*static* Beta!" A pause as the man gasped for breath before a loud banging noise was heard._

" _Do not send reinforcements! I rep*static*eat do not send reinforcements! *static* type of Grimm-" This time the man was panicking as his breathing grew faster as he began to hyperventilate._

 _An even louder banging noise was heard this time. Something groaned with effort as metal scraped against metal._

" _White in color, extremely lethal and dangerous, have-" The transmission ended there as a third and final bang broke through whatever the man used to protect himself and the line went dead._

…

It still unnerved Ironwood when he thought about a new breed of Grimm out there. Especially one that could break through the defenses of the CCT's located out there in the Grimmlands.

He knew that there should have been more troops stationed out there, but so very few were willing to take that position despite the increase in lien and promotion.

He would never force any of the men under his command to take that position; as the need of that particular CCT never appealed to Ironwood. While true it helped with the communication between Atlas and Vacuo they could honestly deal with some static between each other.

' _If only the new Atlesian Knights were ready sooner.'_ He thought to himself as he would have deployed them rather than those soldiers to get them out of those damned Grimm infested lands.

The description of the Grimm also occurred to him as he was walking though the main courtyard of Beacon after leaving the hospital.

White in color wasn't much to go on alone, and he wasn't sure if this new type of Grimm was stronger than an Alpha Grimm or not.

Clenching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb, Ironwood let out a tired exhaust of breath as he went to his airship. He would need to finish up the security preparations for the Vytal Festival coming next week.

…

" **Do you see the light Tyrell?"** The voice of his tormenter asked him.

"Yes." He answered weakly both in the physical and mental worlds as he was recovering from the latest interrogation given to him by the General.

He wasn't sure how much more of this pain he could take, as even with his new aura, it didn't do much to block the General's fists as they connected with his body.

" **That is both yours and mine own salvation."** It spoke with really no emotion in its voice as Tyrell only nodded in both planes. **"Do you wish for me to take you there?"**

Tyrell thought on it for a moment as he was wary with his answer.

On one hand he could choose to accept his tormentor's offer and escape from Beacon and those who he thought he could trust. It still pained him to think how Ozpin had agreed to Ironwood's methods to "interrogate" him.

On the other, he could rot here until his new tormentor beat him to death.

He preferred the first option.

' _Why have you not come yet?'_ He thought to himself as he wondered just where Abell was. Surely he would have come for him by now, especially after not hearing form him for over a month.

He felt abandoned all over again as no one seemed to care for his well being. He was left in this cold cell alone with only pain and suffering coming to greet him.

' _Just as the Undead Asylum had been…'_ He thought bitterly.

"Have I not suffered enough?" He asked no one as he thought back to his life as an Undead. Constantly dying to try and complete a task that he has now forgotten. To be stabbed, crushed, burned, poisoned, and ending up as a stain on the ground wore down on one's own sanity.

Trying to avoid going Hollow.

He shuddered at the thought as he heard the tormentor speak once more, **"I offer to deliver you from this cell and those that wish to break you. I can take you to your Lord, Abell. I** _ **will**_ **end this suffering that you have endured for so long, and finally give you peace."**

The offer was _very_ tempting that Tyrell was on the brink of saying yes, but he knew that once he let the demon assume control, it would be hard to remove. **"Allow the Abyss to keep you safe from harm and accept its soft embrace."**

Tyrell knew his answer now as (in a moment of weakness) he allowed his tormenter to take over momentarily to enact their escape.

Outside Tyrell's room both soldiers were silently guarding over the prisoner.

It was then that the Blue guard heard his helmet's built-in earpiece begin to crackle to life.

" _This is General Ironwood. Report in soldier."_ The voice of Ironwood filled the Blue guard's earpiece as the man brought up a finger to the button on the side to respond.

"Nothing new to report on sir. The patient is just as you left him ten minutes ago." He found it odd that the General would want a report so soon. Ironwood usually interrogated the man for an hour or two, and would only ask for a report on the days that he was too busy to interrogate the patient.

" _I want the two of you to go in and check in on our_ patient _."_ Ironwood ordered before the earpiece went silent once more. The Blue guard looked over at his fellow guardsman before saying, "General wants us to go in and check up on the patient."

The Red guardsman sent him a questioning look as he asked, "Why didn't he contact the both of us then?"

Shrugging his shoulders as his only response, the Blue guard just said, "Who knows? Maybe he likes me better then you Frank." Shooting a teasing smile at his friend, both guards entered Tyrell's room.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as the man was sleeping calmly, not at all disturbed by their entrance.

"Looks fine to me. C'mon let's just let him rest." Frank began walking out of the room before the Blue Guard stopped him.

"Hold on a sec man." When Frank stopped and turned around, his partner pointed towards the small white sphere that appeared above Tyrell's chest. Walking closer to inspect the new phenomenon as his curiosity began to grow larger the closer he got.

"I don't think we should go near that." Frank warned, but it fell on deaf ears as his partner had now placed his hand through the strange sphere of white light.

"Whoa, hey Frank you should-" When he turned around to face Frank, fear welled up in his body as the medical room had all but completely disappeared. In its place was an endless black abyss that seemed to go on forever.

" **Ahh… my acolyte arrives at last."** A voice came out through the darkness as the Blue guard quickly faced back towards the white sphere. He was met with the sphere, along with a demonic looking hell knight.

His hand went right through the knight's chest and into the white sphere that sat there in the middle. Trying to wrench his hand free, the Atlas guard was met with no movement of his arm whatsoever as it seemed to be stuck.

" **How easy the people of this world are to trick."** It spoke with a slight laughter in its voice as black tendrils snaked their way from the knight and onto the Blue guardsman.

He tried to open his mouth to call out for help, to call out to Frank to help him, but the tendrils prevented that as they entered his mouth. He felt them slithering down his esophagus and into the pit of his stomach.

He was choking as the knight began to chuckle darkly before quietly whispering to him, **"** Thank you for your service soldier. **"** It said in a perfect imitation of General Ironwood's voice.

"Hey! Steve you there man?" Steve awoke to find Frank snapping his fingers in front of his face constantly. "W-what? Frank?"

"Finally! As soon as you touched that weird little ball of light you were zoned out. I was about to call in one of the nurses to grab a doctor, but then you woke up."

Steve looked over to Frank and smiled saying, "Thanks for getting me out of my daze man." He offered a smile to him as Frank returned it along with a small laugh.

"No problem man no let's get back to our post." Frank turned away from his partner to head over towards the door. With his back turned, he failed to notice Steve lifting up his pistol and shooting Frank right in the back.

The Red guard fell down onto the ground with a small smoldering hole in his upper back. Holstering the gun, 'Steve' headed over to the strapped down Tyrell and began undoing the bonds.

After Tyrell was free and up on his feet, 'Steve' knelt down with his head bowed as he spoke in a strange mixture of the man's original voice and Tyrell's tormentor.

"My Ascendant, you will is complete and I am yours to command."

Tyrell had regained control of himself when his tormentor went to consume this man's soul.

Taking the gun from the kneeling man Tyrell ordered him to stand. The man complied and Tyrell placed his free arm around the man's neck while holding the barrel of the foreign weapon to the man's head.

"Move." Was all he said to the Blue guard as the man seemed oddly eager to comply with his orders.

However, when the door had opened, both were greeted by the now familiar darkness of the Abyss. Darkness seeped into the room until it was consumed whole in the endless black and Tyrell had thought that he had lost all control over his own soul.

Looking at what used to be the man ordered to guard him, Tyrell nearly let go out of surprise to see that he held onto one of the Abyss entities from his nightmares.

It seemed… calm almost.

It further surprised him to find that no harm came to him as he continued to hold onto the creature. It barely stirred as Tyrell then discovered that the weapon he had acquired from the guard had been replaced with a strange shard of white light.

' _Is this my tormentor's way of tricking me, or is this his way of aiding in my escape?'_ The confused Sentinel thought to himself as two more surprises came to greet him.

The first being the appearance of two more entities out from within the darkness. They looked hostile as they stared at him with their unblinking, white eyes.

The second surprise being a white sprite that seemed to be dancing (sort of) behind the two unaware entities. It was trying to grab his attention it seemed as it was constantly making motions with its body to point left.

He really had no choice in this crazed nightmare but to assume that little white sprite would guide him to a way out of this insufferable Abyss.

The one on the left ran off into the darkness while the other remained and looked as though it were about to lunge.

Tyrell pressed the strange shard of light against his 'hostage' and it worked as the entity stood still. "Out of my way phantom." He ordered and (again) to his surprise the thing listened as its two white eyes narrowed at him.

Getting both himself and his hostage out and away from the remaining phantom, Tyrell looked quickly and spotted the white sprite. Still doing its strange sort of dance as it moved down further and further into the dark.

"Wait!" He shouted as he held the prisoner out in front of him and forced it to run while holding the shard to its back. He felt as though he were walking an endless maze as the sprite had led him in multiple directions.

At some points he almost tripped as he felt a drop of sorts as the sprite went down at some points.

He would pass by multiple entities that were appearing either out of the darkness, or were already there waiting for him. He only needed to flash them the white shard, or point it at his hostage's head to get them to remain still.

Tyrell felt each and every one of their piercing gazes upon his back as he passed by. One actually tried to reach out and grab him, but the man was faster as he swung the shard and stabbed at the entity.

It didn't actually pierce through the phantom's body as he had expected, but more so just caused it to fall down onto the Abyss floor.

' _I put my faith into what could most likely be a trick of my tormentor into getting me out of this new hell.'_ It was then that Tyrell chuckled to himself somewhat. "I've placed my faith in far worse things before." He recalled a pyromancer from long ago whom he had so much hope for, but in the end that same pyromancer had abandoned them.

Looking back at the dancing sprite that seemed to always be just out of his reach, Tyrell felt that it was better to place your faith in something rather than nothing at all.

He placed whatever little bit of faith he had left into that little light that would deliver him from this new hell and back to his old life within Abell's kingdom.

In what felt like a century had gone by, both Tyrell and the entity that he had taken hostage of had arrived at his destination.

' _It seems that there is still some hope for me yet.'_

There, sitting in the middle of the Abyss, was a large white and grey portal. It had the main shape of a humanity sprite with the only difference being the white and orange cracks appearing to any side of it.

It nearly blinded him as he had to shield his eyes from walking through the dark for so long.

" _ **It has been far too long, my loyal knight."**_

…

Ruby, along with the rest of her team and Jaune's, had been visiting Ren at the infirmary when they all heard a gunshot go off.

They all heard surprised yelps and screams for help as they had all went to go and investigate the disturbance. Nora had opted to stay behind to watch over Ren, despite his urging to go along with the others.

When they had arrived at the source of where Blake assumed where the shot came from, they were greeted by a small crowd of doctors and nurses. Ruby spotted a few low-level Atlesian soldiers at the door's entrance, trying to keep the crowd out of the room.

When they got closer Ruby felt a knot of uneasiness form when she spotted that it was the room that Tyrell had been appointed to.

After pushing through the crowd Blake asked one of the soldiers, "What happened here?"

The soldier looked at her for a moment and thought that she was just another annoyance to join the crowd, but upon seeing that she and the others were Beacon students he answered.

"The patient located to this room had somehow managed to get a hold of one of the guards' weapons and shot one. The other guard is missing and we have assumed that he has taken them hostage." The soldier answered.

The answer did not sit well with any of them as all separated away from the gathered crowd.

"We need to find Tyrell before he causes any more damage." Blake spoke first as they all nodded in agreement.

"What do we do when we spot him?" Jaune asked. Yang smashed her fists together in a bit of anger as she spoke, "Obvious. We take him down."

"That's putting it dryly." Weiss chided in as she then added, "Did you even think about the hostage that he is possibly carrying?"

Yang sent a glare towards the heiress as Weiss held one just as fierce until Yang subsided. "…No."

"What should we do Ruby?" The heiress asked of her young leader as now all attention turned towards the young reaper. Ruby didn't feel uncomfortable when the spotlight was put on her as she calmly addressed them all.

"Yang's right. We need to take him down if he is putting someone else's life at risk, but we need to secure the safety of the hostage first and foremost." Both Weiss and Yang seemed satisfied with her answer, but Jaune then asked the obvious.

"How do we stop a gunman taking hold of a hostage?"

A small smirk formed on the red reaper's lips as she said bluntly, "It's simple Jaune. We _talk_ them out of taking hold of the hostage." Her teammates only sighed at how simplistic their leader could be about such situations at times.

They had all split up into teams of two to cover as much ground as possible to try and find Tyrell faster.

"Nothing to report." Pyrrha's voice came through Ruby's scroll with Yang's following soon after.

"Same here. Rubes you and Weiss-cream got anything?" Weiss fumed a bit at the brawler's intent of only calling by that infernal nickname.

"Yeah actually. Passed by a doctor helping a recovering student up. The doctor said that a crazed man had passed just a few minutes ago with an Atlas soldier held hostage. When I asked where she pointed out that he was heading straight towards the front courtyard outside the infirmary."

After finishing what she and Weiss learned from the helpful doctor Jaune asked through Pyrrha's scroll, "Why would he go there?"

None of them really had an answer besides to probably try and escape Beacon. But the only way from the infirmary would be to-

"We need to hurry now!" Ruby shouted into all their ears before grabbing Weiss by the arm and, before the pristine girl could argue, activated her semblance as she dashed towards the entrance of the hospital.

Outside near the front cliffs of Beacon academy was Tyrell and the soldier turned acolyte as Tyrell was slowly walking towards the edge of the cliffs.

Ruby and Weiss were the first two outside to see the man about to walk right off into a rocky death. Far below sharp rocks and harsh tides awaited any who were unfortunate (or dumb) enough fall.

"TYRELL STOP!" The young reaper shouted across the courtyard as she and Weiss came to a halt.

It actually had seemed to have reached through to the man as his foot stopped right before the cliff edge. He even turned around to face the two of them as he scoffed at the two before speaking in what sounded like a foreign language.

"Ummm… what?" Ruby turned to her still dazed partner who, after regaining her composure and sending a glare at her partner, said, "I have never heard that language before if that's what you're asking. If that even was a language to begin with." She added in at the end as she dusted herself off.

It sounded like just like a mixture of grunts, pained gasps, and hissing to the Schnee heiress.

"Help me! Please!" The Atlas guard shouted as he struggled in the knight's strong grip. In return Tyrell shoved the barrel further against the man's head before speaking again in that strange language.

Both girls had felt for the familiar place where their weapons would normally be, before feeling only empty space.

They had to store their weapons when they visited the infirmary as students with weapons were forbidden by the doctors at the infirmary. They were almost as defenseless as the man Tyrell held hostage, except for their Aura, but against a bullet?

That wouldn't stop much of the impact if they got hit.

Weiss pulled Ruby closer as Tyrell continued to talk in that alien language. "Ruby, keep talking to him while I call in both of our lockers. Can you do that?"

With a confident nod from the reaper, Ruby began to distract Tyrell as Weiss pulled out her scroll when he was distracted. Their lockers would be there in a minute, but even that amount of time didn't sit well with the heiress.

"What happened to you that day Tyrell?" Weiss heard Ruby ask as the man's only response was a confused look at Ruby. He was silent as Ruby continued, "I thought that we had all gotten to be friends. Remember when Nora introduced you to pancakes for the first time?"

He just continued to stare at her as her words didn't seem to be reaching him. Weiss could hear the sound of rockets blasting off in the distance.

' _Just a little longer Ruby.'_

"Remember when Professor Port roped you into singing his favorite song during class as he claimed the song 'quelled the beast'." She brought up her fingers into air quotes as she laughed at the funny memory.

Weiss was about to put her hand on Ruby's shoulder and stop her when she noticed a change in Tyrell's posture.

His grip had loosened around the soldier's neck and the hand he held the pistol in lowered slightly as well. It was working!

"Keep going Ruby." Weiss urged as she heard the rockets growing closer and closer.

"Do you remember when we all spent that shopping day together and got you some new clothes? I recall Weiss complaining how the shopkeeper tried hitting on her, and how Yang and Nora threatened to castrate him." Ruby snorted at the memory as Weiss turned slightly red and sent a small glare to the reaper from the corner of her eye.

The gun continued to lower with each memory Ruby reminded him of until he even let go of the guard completely. The pistol was still aimed at the man, and just as Ruby was about to say another their rockets crashed right down right in front of them.

Coughing from the smoke and debris caused by the impact, Weiss wasted no time in grabbing Myrtenaster and was preparing an ice glyph. She could hear the others rushing up behind them as she heard Ruby shout, "Weiss wait!"

Ignoring her leader, Weiss unleashed a small barrage of seeking ice dust shards. She aimed them at his gun arm mainly while a few others would hit his legs.

They closed the distance in no time as they were just about to come within ten feet of Tyrell and the hostage. Her eyes widened when she saw that neither men made to dodge the attack.

It was too late to direct the attack away from them as Weiss could only look on in fear of the innocent life that she was about to take.

None made it to either male.

A wall of black and white flames appeared out from the ground itself and seemingly "ate" the ice shards. Weiss, along with Ruby and the others who had just arrived to witness the strange spectacle, starred on in silence at what had just protected both Tyrell and the hostage.

A rift of sorts then appeared at the edge of the cliffs behind the two men as others began to arrive. Ozpin, Glynda, and even General Ironwood were amongst the slowly growing crowd consisting of both teachers and students.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed slightly as he took note of the similarities between the black flame in Qrow's picture and this large rift.

While the center was nothing but pure black and the outline held white flames, Ozpin did take note of how this rift was much wider than what he saw of the black flame. It stood around ten feet high and wide enough for five men to stand side-by-side.

' _Was this your secret Tyrell? The one you kept silent for so long and hidden from the rest of us?'_ Ozpin wasn't sure what to make of the thing before him, as he's never seen anything of the like in his entire life.

Silence seemed to fill the entire courtyard as not a single student nor did any teacher utter a single word; as they were all to stunned to say anything at the moment.

Then, a man with two souls walked out from within the portal.

* * *

 **I know, I'm a jerk. Making you all wait for so long and then leaving it off with a cliffhanger.**

 **This one feels like another "ok" chapter in my opinion. I'm sorry if you guys and gals found this one a little rushed as I kind of wanted to get it ready since you all had to wait an extra week.**

 **I think that I'm going to take a short brake form this story for a bit for two reasons. The first being that I want to make a new "DS x RWBY Specials" chapter. So if you all haven't followed that side project of mine, then you can find it on my profile. I just kind of want to take a break from this story for a bit is all.**

 **Thank you all for being patient with me and for reading this story. Please review as I would like as much feedback as possible from all of you :)**

 **Oh yeah the second reason… DARK SOULS FREAKING 3!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey everyone… Surprise?**

 **I know what I said in the last AN about writing the next special and how I was going to take a break from this story for a bit, but then Dark Souls 3 happened. Don't get me wrong, I was actually in the process of writing the third special, but as I was writing that AND playing DS3 I began to miss this story.**

 **I also sort of lost my drive when writing the special. I had only just breached a thousand words before I decided to start writing this chapter.**

 **To random Guest: I'm depicting Gwyn as the bad guy and Kaathe as the sorta-not-that-bad guy, because that is how my CU sees the actions of Gwyn. Kaathe is still bad in his own way as he more so guided the CU along to the path of the Dark Lord in this fic. Sorry for any confusion there, hope this explains it a bit better.**

 **Well with that said, onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Vessel of Rebirth**_

Laughter filled the starry night sky as the happy couple walked undisturbed whilst returning home after a romantic evening out in the forest next to the village.

Both husband and wife basked in each other's company as the husband put a loving arm around his wife's waste. "Beautiful out tonight." She whispered humbly as she leaned into the crook of his neck.

"Not as beautiful as you are love." He said as he landed a small peck on her cheek. His wife giggled at the affection as they passed through the slightly ajar gates to their village.

Neither found it strange as the husband looked up to see the dark silhouettes of the two guards on their nightly shifts.

Raising a hand in greeting, both husband and wife walked past the large wooden gate and into their village beyond.

After walking a few blocks down towards their little cottage among numerous others, the wife spoke up in a slightly sleepy voice. "Quiet tonight, even for Bedrock." She lazily took note of the moonlight covered houses and their darkened windows.

Waving it off the husband replied, "I'm sure everyone's asleep by now anyway. After all…" Pulling his wife closer lovingly he continued, "You kept me busy for quite some time out in that clearing." She laughed as she fondly recalled their private moments out in the grassy clearing that she had spent with him.

A small whistling noise, similar to that of a bird's call, sounded off nearby.

Both discarded it as just a small bird as they arrived at their cottage.

The husband was the first to notice the small light that radiated from within the window along the left side of their home. He leaned in a little bit before whispering, "Did you leave a candle lit before we left?"

Shaking her head, the wife's happy expression soon turned to one of slight worry as she grabbed onto her husband's arm for protection.

"What if there's an intruder?" She whispered as her husband shook his head.

"Probably one of the Goldsworth's kids trying to prank us again." Stepping up to the front door and producing a key from his pocket, the husband began to unlock the door. "If I see any of those little brats in here…"

The husband opened the door somewhat forcefully despite the door being unlocked as he burst in before saying, "Okay you little punks-"

Both he and his wife, who stood in the doorway, looked on in utter surprise to find not any of the Goldsworth children, but a heavily cloaked figure sitting down at their kitchen table.

A single candle was lit and rested upon the table's wooden surface as wax had seemingly built up at the base of the candle.

"Oh. Hello." The cloaked figure greeted humbly with a (masculine) eastern accent as he turned to regard the couple.

"What the hell are you doing in our house!?" The husband yelled at the man, not only out of anger, but to get their neighbors' attention as well.

"Now now. Is that any way to treat a guest under your roof?" The husband couldn't tell what the man's expression was as the cloak shrouded his face in shadow. Even the candlelight did little to illuminate any features of the man's face.

In an instant the husband grabbed hold of one of the iron prongs that sat near the doorway and flashed it at the man. It was the only weapon they carried in the entire house as it was normally used to tend to the fireplace.

The husband's hands shook slightly as took a step closer to this cloaked man.

"Leave. _Now_." It was not a request as he approached the cloaked man while keeping the prong aimed at his chest. Releasing a sigh of what sounded like mild admiration, the intruder pushed the wooden chair back and stood.

"And to think that all I wanted were a few simple directions." The man let out an unnerving chuckle as he bent lower towards the candle before whispering in a haunting voice, "Goodnight."

The candle was extinguished and the entire house was once again plunged into complete darkness. The husband became blind in the dark as he tried rushing forward to impale the man.

The prong hit nothing but air as the man standing there just a moment ago had suddenly vanished.

"Behind you!" His wife screamed in terror as her Faunus heritage allowed her to spot the cloaked figure standing right behind her husband. It didn't matter though as a sickening crunch was heard as she watched the man impale her husband with a sword.

She missed how the man jerked a bit in the same spot to where her husband had been impaled.

"NO!" She screamed as she started backing away slowly from the scene. The man easily kicked her husband off of his blade and unceremoniously allowed his body to fall to the floor.

Blood spilled forth all over the wooden floor in seconds as the once oak brown color became stained with a deep crimson.

Wrenching her eyes away from her husband's twitching form; she got a good look at the weapon that had killed her husband.

It was a katana as far as she could tell as the thin, slender blade was covered in strange markings as well as her husband's blood. A red and brown hilt was tightly gripped within the murderer's right hand; as well as a small red ribbon had been tied tightly around the end of the hilt.

He turned to her now as she could finally make out some facial features now that the candle had been blown out.

The light beforehand had obscured most of his face, but now that it was gone she saw the slightly slit eyes that bore into her own with a completely murderous intention.

A big, toothy smile was plastered across the man's face as well as one singular horizontal scar crossed beneath the man's eyes and over the bridge of his nose.

His irises were the color of crimson and seemed to _glow_ with an unholy light beneath them. The man took a shuttering breath as he shifted his gaze down to his blade, specifically the blood that stained it.

"Red. The color of blood." Another shuttering breath as his smiled widened even further. He slowly began to laugh with an insane glee in his voice as he suddenly rushed forward.

She was fast enough to arch her back to prevent the blade from piercing her abdomen. She was out of the house faster than a Grimm could blink as she ran towards the village gates.

"DON'T YOU RUN!" He bellowed as she heard fast steps approaching behind her. She dared not to look back as she called out for help desperately.

"Please help! Wake up! Anyone!" She felt the rush of wind as the blade nicked the side of her left human ear. Adrenaline fueled her as she outpaced the man in seconds; thankful to her Faunus heritage as it might have just saved her life.

Coming up to the main gates she screamed for the two guards sitting on watch to help. They must not have heard her as she squinted to get a better look at one of them.

The man on the right was hunched over as she quickly arrived at the ladder that led up to the top of the gates. Scaling it faster than any human could hope to accomplish, once she reached the top she gasped in horror.

Sitting there hunched over was the headless guardsman as she saw that his spear had been impaled into his hand to stand up on its own. When she looked over to the other guard she found her in a similar manner as well.

Blood dripped down from both corpses as she slid down the ladder and turned in time to see the insane man steadily approaching.

"BE STILL!" He ordered as his katana blade flashed in the shattered moon's light.

She rushed off in another direction as she found that the gate doors had been shut tightly and locked.

' _What? H-how…?'_ She didn't have time to contemplate how the doors had been shut when the man had been inside their home. She continued running until she found herself in the center square of the village.

Panting for breath, she turned to find that the man had found her quickly.

When she tried to approach another exit, she found it blocked by more cloaked figures. All of whom had sets of glowing white pupils that blankly starred at her. They each carried a katana similar to that of the man that pursued her, but these ones were made of some form of dark metal that she had never seen before.

Trapped, alone, and in desperate need of help, the woman sank to her knees as the murderer approached. She didn't acknowledge that the man now stood above her as her tear-filled eyes slightly opened to look up into the two red orbs.

"W-why…?" She asked in a broken voice as the realization dawned upon her that these men must have slaughtered her entire village. They simply waited for her and her husband to return to finish the job.

If she wasn't so enthralled with her husband and dazed from all the fun she had tonight, then she might have noticed the headless guards beforehand. Then her human husband might have still been alive and could have protected her.

Kneeling down so that the red orbs met her own sky blue ones, the man responded cheerily, "For my Lord of course! If not for him, then I would have never found my true calling and have been able to live such a fulfilling life."

Rising up and above her yet again the man pulled out his red katana once more before saying, "After all, I just really enjoy a _good_ bloodbath." She didn't even get to let out a small scream as the man mercilessly separated the woman's head from her body.

The head fell down into the woman's lap and rolled off in between his brown leather boots.

Unceremoniously kicking the head back towards the lifeless corpse just for the hell of it, the man turned to his carefully selected unit of assassin's and thieves. "Our work here is done. Let us to return to Hedrikon with our prizes and our Lord shall praise us!"

"Yes Brigade Leader!" They all shouted in union before disappearing into the night like shadows.

Shiva of the East looked down to his beloved blade, gifted to him by his Lord after he had snuffed out the First Flame. The years that followed were full of glorious combat as the once Darkroot huntsman slayed his Lord's enemies.

Shiva has since then grown used to how the Chaos Blade nicked at him whenever he struck with its blade. In fact, he would become upset when the small pains stopped, as it meant that his prey was dead and could no longer be hurt.

The howls of the wild Grimm creatures of this land filled the air as the Brigade Leader added his own voice to the glorious chorus.

Laughter filled the starry night sky once more along with madness and blood as the pale moon shined down upon the empty village.

…

There was nothing but silence throughout the entire courtyard as not a single person moved on either side.

Tyrell himself could only watch in some type of hypnotized awe as Abell walked from within the portal and now stood watching intently at the gathered Beacon crowd.

A few had drawn their weapons and aimed them as they remained still.

Unsure of what they should do considering that a hostage was still involved and that the professors had yet to take any action, the gathered students remained patient and ready.

Ruby held Crescent Rose out in front of her as she trained her scope towards the new arrival.

' _Clear your mind. Keep the target within your sights at all time. Make sure your hands are steady…'_ As she kept reminding herself the first steps that Uncle Qrow had taught her when she had began learning how to use a gun she took a small breath to calm herself down.

So why were her hands shaking so much?

Across the courtyard stood only one man.

She herself had taken down dozens of Grimm not to mention how she and her team had taken down entire hordes by themselves!

They helped defend Vale and its citizens against the Grimm breach nearly a month ago and would be competing in the Vytal Festival tournament this week.

The young reaper tried steadying herself as she met the gaze of the black armored man not even thirty feet away from the rest of them.

For a split second their eyes met and time seemed to slow down. No sound could be heard by the cloaked girl as things just seemed to be getting darker. The landscape had begun to disappear as a black like sludge was slowly encroaching around her.

He said nothing as his glowing white eyes bore into her own silver ones. Wanting to back away she found that her feet were firmly planted into the ground out of fear.

Trying to call out for help she found her voice nothing more than a dull whimper as more of the black sludge got closer.

The sludge passed by the man as he was almost completely consumed by the darkness around him. Nothing but his two glowing eyes remained as Ruby felt herself getting weaker.

Nonetheless she continued to fight against the darkness as she felt herself getting more and more tired. Just as she felt that she would lose consciousness completely, the man looked away.

Suddenly all the darkness had ran away from her vision.

The black sludge had all but disappeared and the man had appeared once more from the void it seemed.

"Hey sis you good?" Ruby heard Yang whisper to her in a concerned tone as the brawler sent a concerned glance towards her baby sister. "You kinda spaced out there for a moment. Almost dropped your weapon."

Immediately Ruby clutched onto Crescent Rose all the more tightly as she looked up once more at the black armored man. Who was currently locking eyes with the Headmaster himself.

Ozpin, throughout his entire career as both a Huntsman and Headmaster, had always kept a tight leash on his fears. Hiding them far beneath a calm demeanor and a pleasant smile to ease others.

When he gazed into this man's eyes, that leash loosened somewhat.

The armor was almost a smacking image of Tyrell's own set, but the steel had been warped in some areas as well as darkened until nearly black. Two horns rested atop the head of the man as Ozpin remembered Tyrell's had a pair of wings instead.

A mirrored version of Tyrell's shield lay gripped in the man's left hand while the right kept a tall halberd with a curved blade at the tip standing on top of the stone walkway.

The way the black and white flames danced around this man's frame sent a shiver down Ozpin's spine as he felt like he was looking at some demon. If this man's eyes were red instead of white, then Ozpin would bet lien that this man was the human incarnate of the Grimm.

He observed how a small pile of sand seemed to rain down from the confines of the black armor. Upon closer inspection Ozpin noted that it wasn't sand, but light grey ashes instead.

Gripping a little tighter onto his cane Ozpin walked ahead of the gathered crowd before clearing his throat with a light cough. Steeling himself for this moment, Ozpin spoke first.

Just as he was about to speak he retracted his thought as he wanted for this man to make the first move in terms of conversation. He too seemed to notice this as a slight 'hmph' escaped from the man's lips.

Turning to face Tyrell, Abell finally broke the silence, "Tyrell… it has been some time since we last spoke." His voice was mainly neutral, carrying no real emotion except a somewhat caring tone hidden beneath.

"A-Abell. Is it truly you?" The Sentinel asked with some hesitance. Unsure if he was still being tricked by the Abyss or not.

The armored fist striking his right cheek proved to the knight that this was no illusion.

Everyone present was surprised (even a few gasped) at the sudden attack on the knight as Tyrell recoiled back more from the surprise of it all rather than the pain.

His Aura had blocked out most of the damage, but there was no hesitance with that strike from Abell. The strength the man wielded alone could leave most men on their knees after a few blows.

Gently rubbing the slightly swollen cheek Tyrell looked back to Abell with utter confusion.

"Abell?" He asked as, faster than he could react, another blow found itself planted on his abdomen. Abell had grabbed Tyrell by the shoulder and kneed him right in the stomach.

The knight groaned this time as he doubled over from the sudden blow. Coughing up mostly saliva, along with some blood, Tyrell felt Abell place a hand upon his shoulder before pushing the man down onto his knees.

"You will _**kneel**_ and address your _**Lord**_ when speaking to him." There was some hidden anger behind that voice as everyone's grip on their weapons grew just a little bit tighter.

"…O-of course m-my Lord…" Tyrell hung his head in shame as Abell calmed down and grew less tense as he himself kneeled down to his knight's eyelevel.

"Your eyes have yet to show the signs." He spoke in a disappointed voice as he inspected the knight no further and stood once more. "It seems that living amongst them has changed you somewhat from your kin. I shall correct this."

Not too far away Ozpin's eyes widened only the slightest and his brows raised (the most surprised look that he could muster) as Abell's right hand became shrouded in flames.

Unlike the black flame that he had seen from Qrow's picture, the flame that enveloped Abell's hand was more of a red color with only a hint of black shaded mist around it.

The hand began glowing an unholy white as Abell raised his hand and brought it closer towards Tyrell's face.

Finally deciding to act for the sake of a man that he had only come to know for a short time, Ozpin was about to order his students to intervene when Abell beat him to it.

"If you are to interfere then you will find your children harmed along with yourself." There seemed to be no care in his voice as Ozpin quickly held his tongue.

If this man had some way of harming anyone of them to speak so carefree, then Ozpin wasn't about to risk his students' lives just yet.

Looking around he caught movement by a tree along those planted along the left side. The figure was gone just as fast as he had spotted it, and all he saw was what looked like a thick bow and arrow. Turning to speak to Glynda, Ozpin gently addressed her.

"Glynda, begin moving the students back to their dorms and see if you can get to James. He can call down his men from the airship to help us deal with this situation." The disciplinarian nodded as she turned back towards the students and began ushering them back towards Beacon.

Most seemed resilient to leave while others happily obliged as they left as quickly as they could.

Ozpin turned his attention back to what was now a grotesque sight to behold.

Abell seemed to be _eating_ Tyrell's face it appeared. Their faces were uncomfortably close as Abell grasped Tyrell in what appeared to be a lover's hold. With one hand on Tyrell's back to support him Ozpin noticed the other one was being used to do something unnatural to the poor knight.

A faint light surrounded the head of Abell as he drained the humanity sprite from Tyrell.

Soon after he finished, the Lord gently laid his knight down onto the ground; Abell stood and produced the same black flame that Ozpin had been so curious about ever since he first laid eyes upon it.

Shifting his gaze down to Tyrell's form, Ozpin took note of how ghostly the man looked after what had just transpired.

Tyrell's entire face was nearly bone white and sunken in somewhat to the point that his cheekbones were clearly visible. In fact, his entire body had seemed to look weaker as well when compared to how he was coming out of the hospital.

Crushing the sprite in his grasp without a second thought, Abell's eyes flashed threateningly as he quickly faced to where Ozpin and the last two teams to stay behind against Ms. Goodwitch's orders.

Ozpin was forced to evade as a wall of black flames rose up from beneath the ground and tried to burn him.

"Ozpin!" James shouted out just a few yards away. The General had heard about the hostage situation and came as fast as he could to Ozpin's location.

The Headmaster of Beacon looked over towards his old comrade before gritting his teeth.

Black and white walls of flame rose far higher than the previous ones, separating both Headmasters along with team RWBY and the two present members of team JNPR within a large circle of flame.

Lifting his cane up and pointing it at Abell, Ozpin finally spoke to Abell.

"Release both my students and comrade now or there will be _severe_ consequences I assure you." His voice was leveled and calm as he spoke while James pulled out his revolver to point it at the lord.

"Comrades? Don't lie to me Headmaster." Abell spit out the title as if it were rubbish in his mouth before continuing, "We both know that the only one you call comrade here is the dear General standing right besides you."

Abell's voice lowered then to a deep tone before finishing, "My knight is no comrade of yours as from what I've seen of your heinous actions towards him."

"I didn't know that offering a man a job, warm place to sleep, and food was considered harmful actions. In fact I think that those are quite the opposite no?" Abell frowned beneath his helmet at the smart remark by the Headmaster before speaking.

"Both you and I know of the actions of which I speak of." Turning towards Ironwood, Abell growled at the General, "Those that try and bring harm to my kingdom and its residents will fall."

"Is that a threat?" Ironwood questioned as he cocked his revolver as he steadied his aim on Abell's head. Scoffing and turning his attention back to Tyrell, who had managed to raise himself back up to his knees once more.

"There is only one last thing to do now for you to be purified now Tyrell." Helping the man up to his feet, Abell waited for a moment for Tyrell to regain his balance before asking, "Are you ready to go home Tyrell?"

"…"

In a flash of movement a gut wrenching crunching noise was heard as the curved blade of Abell's Black Knight Halberd was protruding from Tyrell's back.

Crimson blood dripped down from tip of the blade and onto the white concrete as silence again gripped everyone present as Ironwood finally had enough and fired.

To say that the bullet had disappeared would have been an understatement. The dust infused bullet that was meant to pierce even Goliath hides ended up being blocked not by a wall of flames, but a solid pillar of ash instead.

The point of impact revealed a large crack as the bullet had managed to penetrate nearly to the back of the small ashen pillar.

The only sound penetrating the silent atmosphere was that of the lasting echoes of the gunshot as Abell seemed to go deathly still.

"…Fascinating."

His voice was nearly a whisper that everyone save for Blake strained to hear. The strained sound of an arrow being pulled back was heard from behind them all as Ozpin turned to see archers leveling arrows at each of them.

They wore thinly plated armor mostly around their arms and legs while black leather armor covered their torso and lay beneath the metal plates.

Each carried a quiver filled with miniature versions of Tyrell's great arrows while they too seemed to hold a smaller version of Tyrell's long distance Greatbow.

The last noteworthy features that Ozpin observed were the dark hoods that covered the white masks. Each mask bearing the same black hole in the middle of the forehead above the eye slits where glowing white pupils watched them all intently.

The pillar of ashes sank into the ground easily as well along with Abell's temper as the Ashen Lord drew in a deep breath. An audible groan was heard from the severely wounded Tyrell as the Sentinel lay wounded on the ground once more.

A slightly exasperated sigh escaped the Lord's lips.

As fast as the first one had been, a second ashen pillar erupted from the ashes of the first. Only this time it was pointed at the tip and dripping with the Sentinel's blood as the spike protruded from the man's chest.

"No!" Ruby shouted out in shock as they all watched the life slowly fade away from Tyrell's body. The young reaper suddenly shot forward with the use of her semblance in a vain attempt to save the man that she had deemed friend over the last few months.

The miniature great arrow had only grazed the back of her left calf as she outran the speeding projectile, but it had been enough to knock her down only a few feet away from both Abell and Tyrell.

Abell took notice of the young maiden that his archer had shot down. His eyes widened as she closely resembled Reah, a young maiden of the Way of White he had rescued from the Tomb of the Giants so long ago.

He didn't have time to observe any further as a roar of rage was let loose from the female blond warrior. She elbowed the archer behind her in the mask with enough force to leave a noticeable crack before charging straight at him.

Eyes burning a dark crimson and anger beyond anything seen by her teammates beforehand flowed through Yang.

Yang might not have Ember Celica on her at the moment, but she had enough strength and anger to take any of these guys on. After seeing the blood of her baby sister on that arrow Yang lost it all as she charged at Abell.

Abell knew that she would be able to break past the small barrier of ash he could create with how little he had brought with him. The black flames would also seem to have no effect on this girl as her hair was literally set ablaze before him.

' _I will have to ask Cinder to explain to me more about these "semblances".'_ He casually thought as the distance between him and Yang grew shorter by the second.

The Lord would have been worried had he not of brought two of his royal guardsman with him.

Just as Yang was five feet away she had reared back a fist in anticipation with knocking the head right off the man's shoulders.

Bringing forth her fist forward with all of her now pent up anger behind it, Yang was about to accomplish that goal had it not been for the black and bronze shield that appeared right before her.

Her fist connected with an almost immovable object as the greatshield was only pushed back a few inches at best. Before she could continue trying to break past the new barrier to get to Abell, a second shield had appeared from behind.

The second one connected with her elbow at first and, before she knew it, Yang was forcibly bashed in-between the two massive greatshields.

The blow hadn't done much physically thanks to her Aura, but she did feel her skull bashing against the hard metal on both sides forcing her to fall onto one knee.

Two shadows loomed above her as two large men bearing similar armor to Abell's looked down on her with their piercing white glares.

The armor was bulkier and more heavily plated in areas such as the shoulders, legs, and torso. Each royal guardsman wore a small, dark crimson cape over their left shoulder.

The capes bore the Darksign stitched with golden thread as it shined in the daylight. Their helmets were different however as it looked like the Royal Sentinels of Anor Londo own, but with two black horns curving down on either side.

One carried a customized Black Knight Greataxe, having one of the blades removed and replaced with a thick hammerhead. The other royal guard held what looked like a large curved sword. The hilt was made of the same material that most of his army used, but the blade itself was crafted using dragon scales.

"Stay down if you wish to return to them girl." Abell advised as the guard with the curved sword kept the blade near her neck to emphasize the warning.

Turning to the rest of the remaining students, General, and Headmaster, Abell spoke once more.

"Before I depart I wish to tell you how expected, and disgusted, I am of how poorly my knight had been treated here at your school Headmaster."

Ozpin blinked only once as he wasn't surprised that this man knew about Tyrell's time here at Beacon. Linking it to the black flame that he had forcibly taken from Tyrell, Ozpin theorized that the man somehow gained the knowledge through it.

"I fail to see how you have treated him any better considering how you just killed the man." Ozpin shot back with a slightly heavy tone as his anger at how this man wasn't even her for ten minutes, and had harmed two of his students grew.

Abell chuckled darkly as he looked down to Tyrell's corpse before saying, "You'll see soon enough how I plan on saving my knight." Ozpin only raised a questioning brow as Abell then faced the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR.

"I must admit that I was taken aback by how quickly you all had accepted him into your lives. Sharing meals, swapping stories, and even accepting him when he told you straight out lies to you all."

This had stunned them all as Ruby, supporting herself with Crescent Rose, stood and shouted back, "Tyrell never lied to us! Sure he had secrets that he didn't want to share, but that doesn't mean he lied!"

Abell let loose another dark chuckle as he approached the red and black covered little girl.

Ozpin tensed as he was ready to strike down this man to protect Ruby, even willing to risk his other students' lives if it meant keeping the girl out of harm's way.

But then he sent a quick nervous glance to Ms. Nikos as the champion seemed to be having a trouble of some kind.

Her hands kept grasping for something, but only air met her fingers as she began to show signs of both confusion and fear. Seeing that her semblance wasn't working properly gave the Headmaster a sense of dread as he only looked back to Abell and Ruby.

Abell stood a good three heads higher than Ruby, so the man set his towering gaze upon the supposed to be frightened girl. To his amusement she met his gaze head on for a few seconds before looking away in fear.

"He lied to you and your friends about everything. His home, his background and even his very _life_ was all a lie to get you all to trust him. While I find it strange that he trusted you all, I also find it misfortunate on his behalf that trust was poorly placed." Taking a few steps away from Ruby, Abell looked to a few of them before beginning.

"Violence." He looked back at Yang, whom was glaring right at him with an intense hatred. He ignored her completely before looking back down at Ruby.

"Unfaithful." She shrank at the harsh word as she couldn't bring herself to even look in Tyrell's direction.

"Untrusting." Weiss sent her own icy glare towards the Lord, but he sent one ten times as strong back. The Schnee heiress tightened the grip on her weapon, but otherwise looked down to the ground.

"Betrayal." Abell's cold gaze fell on Blake for the longest time as the Faunus girl felt the immediate shame of having abandoned her teacher back on the train resurface once more.

Abell sent his gaze over towards both Jaune and Pyrrha. He didn't speak to either of them as he looked from Pyrrha to Jaune.

His eyes rested on Jaune for a moment longer before he turned back to Ozpin and Ironwood.

"Brutality." Neither Ironwood nor Abell backed down from one another's glares as Ironwood's trigger finger itched slightly. Eventually Abell turned to Ozpin, breaking off the staring contest as he was about to utter one last word.

But before he did he immediately turned to Tyrell's corpse and rushed over quickly.

Blood pooled beneath his broken body, as one large crater had appeared right next to the Darksign on Tyrell's chest. Where Abell's halberd had struck there was a vertical hole that had ceased producing blood as Tyrell's heart had stopped beating.

Blood and saliva dripped from the Sentinel's mouth as Abell reached his hand down towards the glowing that was emitting from Tyrell's chest.

Crunching and squelching noises (to the disgust of the others) were heard as Abell dug inside the crater-like wound before reaching his hand back out with his prize.

In his hand was the gold and white ball that was Tyrell's soul.

Standing up and tucking his knight's soul away in his pouch, Abell signaled his royal guardsmen to release Yang.

Without needing to order them verbally, the guardsman with the hammer-axe hybrid of a weapon placed his weapons away and knelt down to scoop up Tyrell's corpse. Carrying the dead knight in both hands the guard lumbered over towards the portal and beyond to home.

As Abell stepped towards the readied portal that would take them back to Hedrikon, he turned to regard Ozpin one last time as the black flames began slipping away.

" **Coward."** He spat out with disgust.

Stepping into the portal any traces of Abell and his presence disappeared soon after. All that remained were the bloodstains of Tyrell's execution and the dispirited team RWBY.

…

Ironwood's hand slammed down onto Ozpin's desk for what seemed like the tenth time now since their discussion began.

"We need to take action Ozpin. I knew that my suspicions would be right in the end. Whoever these people are, they clearly present a threat as large as the White Fang. Perhaps even larger!" Ironwood removed his hand from the desk as he paced around as he had been for nearly half an hour.

Ozpin himself sighed out of both exhaustion and frustration as he brought up his hands to massage his sore eyes.

Once both Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long had been taken care of at the infirmary he immediately had Glynda set up a meeting with them later today.

The man felt guilty for having to put them through even more struggles, especially with the tournament only a few days away, but he needed answers.

Both he and James did.

James ceased his pacing as a light seemed to go off above his head before he turned to his old friend. "What if their base is somewhere in the Grimmlands near the support tower located there? How else could the Grimm have gotten past that fence without some form of outside interference?"

Ozpin raised a tired brow in response.

"That's an awfully large 'if' James. You know as well as I that towers of similar design have fallen to the Grimm in the past."

Now that Ozpin had thought more into it, didn't the reports indicate that a new breed of Grimm had been the cause of the support towers destruction?

Gritting his teeth slightly Ironwood begrudgingly nodded in agreement, but that didn't stop him. "I'll send in a small aerial strike team to investigate the Grimmlands to find where he's hiding. Once they do I'm bringing in more soldiers to prevent another Fang from rising."

Taking a long drink from his favored beverage Ozpin noticed that not even coffee helped ease his mind as much as it did every day. Placing down his beloved mug the Beacon Headmaster looked the General in the eye.

"Not only will you be risking the lives of your men James, but you'll be sending them into uncharted territory." Ozpin had only heard rumors of what resided in the Grimmlands, but they were enough to keep the council from sending in expedition teams.

Even experienced Hunters weren't allowed anywhere near there unless they had a death wish.

For nearly as long as the four kingdoms have stood the Grimmlands has been devoid of any human or Faunus life; with the only living beings there Grimm.

Some speculated that it had been the birthplace of all that was Grimm while others argued that all life had been born from the shattered fragments of the moon. Ozpin never really cared much for religion or speculation, but he always did have his own theories.

If any sane person, civilian or Hunter, were to travel into those infested lands then they would not survive until the next rising sun.

"Technology has by far advanced since we attended here Oz. Atlas at its head, we've had technological advancements that put Vacuo at least ten years behind!"

' _Any chance to boast about your kingdom you'll take James. Just the same as you were when you lived in Vale all those years ago.'_ It brought a faint smile to Ozpin's lips as he thought back on how loyal and trusting James was to his friends and comrades back then.

Nowadays it seemed that everyone was a potential threat in his eyes.

' _Then there was your "bullheadedness," as Glynda liked to call it.'_

"What if I'm right Oz? What if this man and his group are out there and planning the downfall of Mantle or even Vale itself?" Both hands rested against the glass surface of Ozpin's desk before he continued, "When I was interrogating Tyrell, I'll admit that even I couldn't get much out of him. But then there was that other side of him…"

Ozpin leaned in closer to indicate his interest in this new topic as he urged James on, "Other side?"

Nodding his head Ironwood continued once more, "Yes. Sometimes his eyes would glow the same white as those two guards that had kept Ms. Xiao Long down earlier." Ozpin grimaced only slightly as he recalled how he had failed to protect his students, but he then nodded his head for James to go on.

"A voice that did not belong to this world took over. It spoke in riddles and twisted his words around, but from what I had gathered, these men possess something powerful." Ironwood's voice had grown somewhat tense as Ozpin inquired what he meant.

"What exactly do you mean by powerful, James?" He already had a feeling for what his friend was about to say.

Leaning in closer to him, as if afraid someone else might hear, James spoke in a lowered tone, "I believe that these men hold a power similar to that of a maiden."

This time Ozpin's entire body went rigid as he looked James square in the eyes before asking, "Are you _sure_ James?"

"That voice didn't reveal enough for me to get a good grasp on what these men might possess… but yes I'm positive they have something nearly as powerful." James turned away from Ozpin to resume his pacing as it gave Ozpin a moment to think.

The powers of the four maidens were something to truly behold in their own right. Even just the power of one would be enough to take on a horde of Grimm alone.

Throughout his entire life, Ozpin has only seen one of the four maidens' powers himself, and the soldiers she used them on had wounds that would follow him to his grave.

If it was true and James was right on his hunch about Abell and his men residing in the Grimmlands, then they could take him out with a well organized coordinated attack.

Of course, that was a very large hunch to go one.

They held little knowledge of what this supposed power of Abell's really was for starters. Not to mention how many he holds under his command, their units, what weapons they possess (save for the few they saw today), and _where_ he was located.

Ozpin would not send the lives of any under his command, let alone his students, on the feeling of James Ironwood.

"I'm sorry James, but I will not endanger the lives of either my staff or students just because you have a very vague lead on to where this new threat may lie." James stopped and remained silent for a few moments before nodding his head.

"I understand Ozpin. But I will _not_ hesitate in sending a small air unit into Grimm territory if it means we get the whereabouts of our enemy."

Ozpin just looked at James as he asked, "And what if you're wrong? As I've said before the Grimmlands are uncharted and nearly impossible to navigate, whether you're flying in a Bullhead or not."

The hand came slamming down once more as James looked Ozpin in the eye and said, "Uncharted or not, I'm willing to risk the lives of my soldiers if it means that it'll protect both Atlas and Vale in the long run!"

Silence settled into the atmosphere between the two old friends as James removed himself from the room after no more words were exchanged.

Once at the doors that would lead him out of the office, a thought came to James in his silent disappointment of Ozpin.

' _Maybe that man was right about you Oz. Maybe you have become a coward.'_

…

Silence filled the room of team RWBY as each girl had resided to her own bed. Save for Yang whom was whispering comforting words to the clearly upset Ruby while gently stroking her back.

After getting checked out of the infirmary, the doctor had said that as long as she rested and kept the weight off her left leg entirely then she would be one hundred percent ready for the tournament.

Ruby's calf was covered in clean bandages, but it still unnerved Yang as she still spotted a small splash of blood forming underneath. The doctor had said that the wound was still fresh so they should expect some blood.

Yang would watch her sister like a hawk to make sure that wound didn't reopen, and to prevent Ruby from using her semblance until it was fully healed.

' _He's going to pay for this Rubes. I swear upon Summer's grave. He is going. To._ _ **Pay**_ _.'_ Yang thoughts of violence were disrupted as Ruby finally pulled away from her, allowing the older sibling a break from the emotional comforting.

All eyes were on the young reaper as she wiped away the remaining tears before looking up.

Her entire face was covered in what could only be described as nearly two hours worth of crying. Tear stains adorned her face like small streams down a windowsill while her eyes were red and puffy from constantly rubbing at them.

Each girl looked on at their leader with concern as it was actually Ruby herself to speak up first.

"Was he right?" Ruby sounded both tired and drained leaving none of the constantly cheery girl they have all come to know and love.

Weiss looked out the window at a passing bird while Blake found sudden interest in looking down at her lap.

Seeing that her partner and teammate wouldn't give her an answer the distressed reaper turned towards her half-sister as she repeated herself. "Was that man right? About us?"

Yang's gaze did not falter as she gently placed both hands onto Ruby's shoulders before taking a small inhale of breath.

Yang knew that this wasn't the first time that Ruby has had to experience the news of someone's death; however, it was the younger girl's first time witnessing it.

"Rubes. I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you like how things were back when mom died." A silent gasp was shared between Blake and Weiss as the two had yet to hear this personal information about the two siblings.

Yang ignored them as Ruby only nodded (albeit hesitantly) for her to continue.

"I'm not gonna lie. Ever since the Breach last month I've held no more friendly feelings towards Tyrell. He harmed Blake and Ren, both in one day. Who knows what would have happened if Coco hadn't come and dealtwith him when she did?"

Yang's grip tightened somewhat as she went on, "Thank god it wasn't you who he impaled. If he had harmed you, I-I would have gone berserk. I would have killed him myself if he had hurt my baby sister like he did Ren."

Ruby wasn't sure whether to feel grateful of her sister or afraid of what she was saying.

"Y-you don't r-really mean that. Right Y-yang?" Ruby wasn't sure as the grip tightened to the point of starting to hurt as her older sister looked her right in the eyes.

Ruby felt a little fear well up inside her at how intensely those crimson eyes bore into her own.

"If that were you lying in that hospital bed strapped up to those machines while doctors tried healing the injury without causing further harm? I would personally hunt the man down and beat his skull in until there was nothing left." Yang soon realized that she had gone a little too far as Ruby shied away from her.

After taking a few breaths to calm herself Ruby then turned to her partner before asking, "Weiss?"

The Schnee heiress tensed underneath the teary-eyed gaze that her leader sent her as Weiss remained silent.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked again, this time with a little more volume as both Yang and Blake too turned their heads to regard her. A minute or two had passed by in silence before Weiss finally gave a deep sigh before slowly turning to face Ruby.

"Ruby I-" She stopped herself as all three of them waited anxiously for her answer. "I… never held full trust for Tyrell." It pained Weiss on the inside when she noticed a little more light fade from Ruby's eyes as she continued on.

"It was always just a mask, both for him and everyone else once I saw how happy he made some of you. After getting to know him, the man was always secretive about his past and where he had come from." Blake and Yang silently agreed as Ruby chirped up saying, "But he told us all that stuff about his village and-!"

"Ruby. That was all a lie that he told to gain our trust, and I can't easily forgive someone who lies their way around everything." Weiss cut her off before saying her final piece, "I gave Tyrell the benefit of the doubt at _best_ , but I will never trust him."

The heiress didn't need to mention that he would never get the chance to make up for the lies anyway as Ruby only looked onward to Blake now.

Blake was nervous as she saw how Ruby seemed to be holding onto that last, tiny bit of hope that what that man had said wasn't true.

' _No more lies.'_ Blake recalled the short discussion between her and Yang had a few days prior to the Breach.

They had agreed on to work things out as a team and to hold no more secrets between themselves. Blake steeled herself as she knew that the truth had to be told, even if it meant crushing that tiny bit of hope Ruby still clung so desperately to.

"This team is and always will be my family. You all know that I would do anything to protect this family from harm." She began before squeezing her hands together in her lap. "Even if that included leaving someone we knew behind."

Surprise write itself across all three of them as Yang was about to ask the obvious question, but Blake answered before she even took in the first breath.

"It was back on the train that Torchwick and the Fang had planned on breaching Vale with. Obviously we didn't stop it, but that's not the point. After I subdued Torchwick, I saw Weiss had been knocked in from the previous cart by the Fang lieutenant."

Weiss did not forget how she had nearly been bisected by the crazed Faunus and his oversized chainsaw.

"I was about to go and help fend him off when Tyrell had been knocked back into the cart by… one of Abell's men I'm sure." Just at the mention of his name Yang's eyes flashed crimson, but otherwise nodded for her partner to go on.

"Weiss was nearly knocked out and wouldn't have been able to recover in time to fend for herself. Tyrell himself wasn't doing so well either. I noticed that he was bleeding and only able to raise his shield up to block the attacks by the greatsword the other man wielded."

"Both needed my help and I knew that I would have to sacrifice one for the other." Blake glanced in Weiss's direction as she said, "In the end I chose family over a stranger."

Weiss nodded her silent thanks as Blake frowned when she saw the last little bit of light dim in Ruby's eyes.

When silence threatened to envelop them once more, it was Ruby who actually spoke up saying, "I should have been a better friend."

Confused at what she meant Yang asked, "What do you mean Ruby?"

"Tyrell. After Coco had shot him down at the Breach, we all stopped talking about him shortly after. I bet none of us even went to go and visit him at the infirmary." Her three silent teammates answered that for her as she buried her face in her hands once more.

"I should have gone to go see him, but after he hurt both Ren and Blake, I couldn't bring myself to even look at him." The slightly muffled voice of Ruby came through as she went on.

"When we passed by that crowd of people gathered outside his room I hesitated in approaching, because I was scared of what I might have found in there if he had still been present."

"Ruby, it's not your fault-" Weiss began before Ruby cut her off as she actually raised her voice at her partner for once.

"No Weiss! I was scared of someone I used to call a friend! While I was scared he was probably suffering in that room alone, waiting for the ones he called 'friends' to come and help him! I should have been that friend to rescue him, but instead I hesitated. And do any of you know why?"

None answered her as they only looked on in surprise at this upset and unhappy girl that had replaced their leader.

"Because I was _**unfaithful**_!" The word felt like a knife had been jabbed into her heart as she began to cry again into her hands once more. Yang immediately went back to comforting her sister as her eyes continued to burn a deep crimson.

She couldn't stand seeing Ruby like this and knew that she had to do something to help her little sis out. It wouldn't be much right now, but with the tournament coming up in only a few days they would need to be ready if they still wanted to win.

Yang didn't really care about the tournament at all if it meant that Ruby wouldn't be happy, but she had to try something to get her to smile again.

"Hey, Rubes." She gently whispered into Ruby's ear as the young girl looked up with a teary face to Yang. Yang held in the spike of anger that coursed through her at seeing Ruby so sad, but she held it in as she put on a happy mask.

"I know that it hurts right now, and I promise you that I, Weiss and Blake will do everything in our power if it means getting you to be happy again." The young girl looked confused as she raised a brow lightly as Yang continued.

"What are you saying Yang?"

"Well, I heard that team CFVY has been working on a new team combo that they plan on using in the tournament. Personally, I want to wipe that smug grin from Coco's face, but we can't do that without our team leader."

"So why don't we start early tomorrow morning with practice on our combo moves. What do you say?" Ruby must not have seen the sweat coming off Yang's forehead as she was trying really hard to keep up her "happy face."

For right now she wanted to get Ruby's mind off of this whole thing about Tyrell, even if it meant she had to pull lies right out of her ass if it meant it got Ruby smiling.

When the young reaper appeared not too convinced Yang panicked somewhat as her mask of happiness cracked a bit.

"H-hey now. I promise you that we'll get past his death _together_." Looking up at Weiss and Blake, Yang didn't need a mask to smile as she said with confidence, "As a family."

It was then that the faintest of smiles formed on Ruby's lips as a sigh of relief washed over them all before Yang added in one last thing.

"Besides, Torchwick maybe in the big house now, but it looks like we got ourselves a new player on the field."

…

Deep within the newfound Church of Father Rinaldor's Crusaders, both protectors of the church and its disciples gathered in the main hall. Seated there were nearly two to three hundred or so figures as they all sat in silence for the daily prayer.

Only about fifty or so wore iron-clad armor and blood red robes, each wearing a specially crafted helmet depicted after their Lord's brother in arms.

The remaining few hundred members of the church wore dark navy robes that covered their entire person. Each robe was outlined with a shining black silk that glowed in the dim light cast by the torches that lightened the churches walls.

Standing at the end of the long walkway, Father Rinaldor was on both knees as he was nearly finished citing the final hymns before the ceremony.

Both Abell and Aulnor stood silent as the Father finished the last line.

Bowing his head, Father Rinaldor slowly stood before facing the two knights.

Rinaldor wore dark robes that covered his entire body in a veil of black silk. Black tights could be seen beneath the lower section of his robes; as well as black manchettes covering his forearms.

A circular black silk robe was draped across Rinaldor's shoulders while his head poked through the center of the circle.

The only strange thing about the man's look was the skull head that he wore over his own.

It resembled that of one of the Capra Demons from Izalith, but instead of the normal two horns that jutted from the sides of the demon's skull there lay a long white mane of hair. The elongated mane came close to the middle of Rinaldor's back, and Abell could have sworn that he saw something flicker within the jewel.

A dark purple gem was imbedded into the forehead of Rinaldor's goat skull, but Abell never paid it any mind as he brought up why he was here.

"What is the status on Tyrell's burial?"

"Aaahh. The youth you sent to us prior to his departure to Remnant. His corpse now rests within the Catacombs along with the others my Lord." Rinaldor shifted his head behind him to the altar where those who wished to pray or repent for their sins were welcome.

Only members of the Rinaldor's church knew how to navigate the Catacombs that lay beneath the Crusader's church. The altar was the only way in or out of the labyrinth of tombs and taken Grimm.

Rinaldor, although begrudgingly, accepted the alien help on behalf of his Lord. Although he despised the primitive creatures (both taken and wild), he couldn't deny the added security they offered to those who now rested.

For a moment the white light within Abell's eyes flickered. As if something had stirred the Lord from within, before he spoke again his voice was softer.

"Thank you Father." Rinaldor waved the praise away before replying, "I cannot accept your thanks my Lord for Tyrell was, although brief, a cherished pupil. He proved quite gifted when it came down to learning the old Gods' miracles. He will always hold a special place in this church for as long as the sun rises."

Abell said nothing but only looked to the Father of the church with a blank stare.

Shrugging off both the silence and stare given to him Rinaldor added in one last line before falling silent.

"After all, when the sun does not rise and only darkness remains does the real face of mankind _shine_." The last words he spoke sounded as though a serphant had spoken them.

"Of course." Abell agreed easily enough as he reached behind to the faithful pouch that had been with him since the very beginning. When he withdrew his hand from the pouch the gold and white soul of Tyrell the Sentinel rested there.

"Onto the main reason of why I came here then." Aulnor shifted slightly at the sight of the soul, but otherwise remained still as the head of the church looked down at the remarkable soul.

Abell looked down at the soul of his knight for a moment before looking back up at Rinaldor.

"Is that…?" Rinaldor looked on in awe as Abell nodded in confirmation before speaking.

"The soul of your pupil and my knight has become tainted. Whatever those of this Beacon have done to the Sentinel has left this _blight_ on his very soul!" Abell gritted his teeth as he thought back to the state he had found Tyrell in when he arrived.

The young lady dressed in white was attacking him, and would have killed Tyrell had he not intervened when he did. Then, as he was giving Tyrell the mercy he deserved after the state Abell had found him in, that young girl with the silver eyes tried as well.

The great scythe she wielded would have cut through Tyrell in his weakened state, and if the young one had succeeded, then Tyrell's soul would be lost.

All of them at Beacon wanted Tyrell's soul for their own purposes that he couldn't distinguish as of yet, but hopefully the Witch would shine some light on the situation.

If he had not taken matters into his own hands, then Tyrell would be suffering as this blight ate away at his very being. Abell would not stand for anything of the sort for any of those he ruled; so he killed his knight to end his suffering.

Taking a small breath to calm himself, Abell asked, "I am entrusting you and your clerics to remove this blight from Tyrell's soul before the Witch's time comes."

Rinaldor was silent for a long time as he gently accepted the soul of his pupil from his Lord.

He looked down at the once pure white wisps that slowly rose themselves up from the fragile sphere that made up the whole of the soul. Looking up to Abell, Rinaldor nodded firmly without doubt.

"It will be done my Lord." The Father, along with every single Crusader within his church, bowed their head to Abell both out of respect and admiration. The Ashen Lord bowed slightly to Rinaldor before turning to Aulnor.

"Send word to Grandahl and inform him that his four prisoners will be gifted their weapons tomorrow. As well as have him informed that they will be sent to the Witch and her company to attend the Vytal Festival."

Aulnor made no gesture as both Lord and Demon walked out of Rinaldor's church of Crusaders.

* * *

 **I have to admit that I really enjoyed getting back into writing after that break. My one friend and I beaten the game recently and have moved onto NG+ and I can only imagine how much harder the game will be.**

 **Also, I have to apologize for the delay on this chapter despite deciding to write it. With DS3 and Doom 4 occupying most of my time I didn't get around to this too much.**

 **Now we will be finally moving onto Volume 3 next chapter and will be getting into the fights. Like I said in a previous note there won't be many fight scenes like in canon, so we should actually be arriving at the launch of Cinder's plan B in the next two to three chapters.**

 **Also, as a side note, I have been working on a new cover for the story's image in my Computer Art class on Illustrator, but I wanted to know if there are any artists out there who enjoy this story enough to want to possibly make some fanart for this fic? I'd honestly really appreciate it and would leave a link/shout out to the artist(s).**

 **If that does interest anyone out there then feel free to PM me.**

 **Thank you all again for the support and encouragement in your reviews, and I'll talk to you all in the next chapter! (Also, I will continue to work on the special, but it won't take priority and will be out whenever it's done)**


	21. Chapter 21

**First off, today is the official one year anniversary of this story being up on this site, and I am absolutely blown away by the amount of support and reviews given to me by all of you! I purposely waited until today to upload this chapter, so I apologize for making you all wait so long.**

 **I am disappointed though as I had a new cover image ready to replace the old one, but when I uploaded it to the Image manager it made the front gradient of the image white instead of the black that I had it set to. So it basically ruined the entire picture as it white out the Beacon I had put into the humanity sprite, AND left a weird white gradient around the central image.**

 **If I can get it to look decent with the site's editing tool, then I may upload it as well, but it probably won't happen. Alright, enough of that. Let's celebrate this accomplishment together with by getting onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Children of Dark**_

A few days had passed since Tyrell's 'salvation' had been delivered at the hands of Abell and now the Vytal Festival was in full swing.

Concession stands, small shopping huts, and many other festival related activities had been set up all across Beacon's grounds. Only a few fights had already passed in the last two days, but none were the ones Cinder needed to keep track of at the moment.

Their fight had already been scheduled for later this afternoon, but she moved that to the back of her mind for now, as she called together a meeting.

"Once more." Cinder ordered before falling silent while both Mercury and Emerald relayed their contingency plan if (when) the breach failed.

Clearing her throat Emerald was the first to speak, "Mercury and I are to make our way to the doubles battles and fight against whomever is sent from team CFVY in that round."

" _Once_ we win that fight, I'll move onto the singles round and throw the fight with a fake leg injury. Em here will place a 'bubble' around me and my opponent to make it look like they attacked me on purpose." Mercury picked up where Emerald had gone silent before handing the spotlight over to his partner.

' _That sure as hell will be_ fun. _'_ Emerald thought bitterly before she noticed the burning gaze set upon her by Cinder. The woman waited patiently for Emerald to continue as the thief quickly resumed.

"O-once Mercury's opponent is disqualified and taken out of the tournament, I'll escort him to the waiting emergency transport bullhead piloted by both you and Neo. Ma'am."

Nodding her head in approval, Cinder silenced them both as she finished the rest for them.

"Once poor Mercury is back on his feet, he'll sneak back into Amity and secure the broadcast lines after Mistral's dear champion and Ironwood's pet fight it out." A devious grin graced her lips as she could only wish how she would be able to see the look on Nikos' face when she destroys the android girl.

Along with Nikos' natural skills and her own intervention with how each match's participants would be decided, it was almost a guarantee that the champion would face Ironwood's machine in the finals.

"Once the machine is disposed of I will light the match that will ignite the flames of chaos and panic. While Mercury broadcasts my speech throughout Amity, Neo will have had Roman out by then and they'll have taken over one of Atlas's airships. With the airspace secure, I will send the signal for my tin soldiers to begin their attack."

Setting her gaze on Emerald, Cinder continued, "Once Mercury is finished taking footage of the Atlesian Knights attacking Vale, you will have to have the dust charges planted and activated once that video is sent."

Emerald only gave a curt nod before Cinder spoke more to herself than her two underlings.

"Between the Grimm, Abell's forces, and the White Fang Vale will suffocate and die out as all three snuff out this kingdom's light." It had angered her so when she had seen that Roman had activated the Breach too early since he couldn't fight against _children_.

They had been so _close_ to Vale's downfall that day, but to Roman's inability to take care of simple bugs, Vale was allowed to see another sunrise.

That feeling of having your victory just within your grasp was beginning to make its way into her being as she thought more into it. Months of planning and securing both the necessary dust and aid of the Fang all gone down the drain in an instant.

Cinder smiled then.

It might have set their plans back by a month or so, but it had also given them more time to gather more strength for when they struck again.

"Ma'am?" Cinder's smile dimmed a bit as she focused her attention back onto Emerald.

"Hmm?"

The girl seemed somewhat nervous about something that Cinder couldn't place as crimson eyes avoided her stare.

Deciding to get right to the point Emerald voiced her opinion concerning their newfound ally. Clearing her throat once more Emerald began, "About Abell…" Her next words seemed to have caught in her throat as Cinder's eyes flashed warningly in her direction.

After a brief moment of composing herself Emerald said, "We don't trust him."

"' _We_ '?" Mercury seemed taken slightly aback but went ignored by both of them. The flames grew more intense within Cinder's eyes as she needed more than that they just didn't trust Abell.

"And why is that, Emerald?"

"Well considering that he just straight out killed one of his own men in cold blood, that doesn't exactly make me warm up to him." Cinder's silence told Emerald to continue as the thief did just that, "I mean I get that we're all killers here, but one of your own with no reason? That brings his loyalty into question if you ask me."

"No one has." Emerald winced a little at how blunt Cinder was as their leader turned to face Mercury. "Perhaps you share these same feelings as Emerald proclaims Mercury?"

The silver haired boy shook his head without hesitation before saying, "Doesn't really concern me either way. I mean it's not like Em and I haven't taken out a few 'questionable' grunts in the White Fang before. Didn't we Em?" Putting her on the spot didn't faze her like he had wanted it too as Emerald sent a sideways glare over towards him.

"Of course we have."

"Then what's the problem?" Cinder inquired as she lazily shifted herself on her bed while keeping her eyes locked to Emerald's.

"I… I'm just worried that he may turn on us if the plan goes south." This time Cinder's eyes flashed dangerously as she asked, "Do you not have faith Emerald?"

"O-of course ma'am! I could never doubt your skills and strategies." It was well hidden, but Cinder could just make out the fear that lay hidden behind those red orbs.

"Good. Now, while I would be very disappointedif it ever came to that, I have a contingency plan for our dear Lord of Ash." Both Emerald and Mercury remained silent to hear her speak, Cinder smiled inwardly at that before going on.

"Adam and the White Fang have reserved food storages in case they ever needed to go into hiding. I have asked our Faunus _friend_ to not only donate some of those precious reserves to Abell and his alleged kingdom, but to also help secure further resources for him."

"If Abell were to ever go against us, then the supplies would stop and his people would starve." It wasn't as foolproof as she would have liked, but it was the best she could think of for the time being until she found something more solid.

Let it be known that Cinder Fall can and will exploit any weaknesses within both those she faced and those she allied with.

After all it allowed her a semblance of control over her 'allies' after all.

"However, though I hate to admit it, I need Abell's numbers if my plan is to truly succeed in overthrowing Vale."

 _Need._

The word tasted like ash within her mouth as she, Cinder Fall, would always take what she wanted whether it is through manipulation, sacrifice, or seduction. But never did she need something so much that she was willing to sacrifice the loyalty of the White Fang in exchange for Abell's greater numbers.

If she were being honest she would have favored Abell's side over Adam's any given time. From what she has seen of his armies, they not only match Adam's forces but triple what White Fang troops Adam has under his control.

Although, in terms of technological advancement, Adam is winning in strides as she has yet to see one piece of Dust technology of any kind with or on Abell and his forces. That was what made Adam such a valuable asset, even if she paid Roman to gather the more advanced tech for Adam's grunts.

In the end she needed them both if her plan were to ever bear the fruits of success. Though she would never admit that to anyone of them should it ever come into question.

' _And that was only a_ 'glimpse' _of what he held.'_ Cinder thought with both intrigue and caution. A great army could be both beneficial while also troublesome.

If Emerald's suspicions were accurate indeed, then not only could the Lord expose them all to either Ozpin, or worse, Ironwood, but also hunt them down with his own spies.

That would just become another nuisance to her not to mention how much further back she would be pushed if Abell did decide to turn on them.

Starting to feel a small headache coming on Cinder sighed as she still needed to make an important call before she could enjoy the rest of her day.

"Both of you may leave." She dismissed them without another word.

Mercury and Emerald nodded silently before making their way out of the dorm room. Cinder overheard Mercury mention something about checking out the fairgrounds after team RWBY's fight, but she paid it no mind further.

After she managed to massage the headache away Cinder pulled out her personal Scroll from within her pocket. Scrolling through the list of contacts for only a minute she found the one she had been looking for.

Once it began ringing it only took two for her superior to pick up.

"It's me. I need to talk to you about a possible problem that could affect the plan. No it's nothing to do with the Maiden, but rather a new _ally_ that I have recently recruited."

There was only audio shared between the two Scrolls as her superior didn't wish to be seen just yet. Cinder had only seen her superior once, but that was many, many, years ago.

"Have you heard of the one known as the Ashen Lord?" Silence met her ear for what seemed like an hour before her superior spoke once more.

"Yes. Understood. I will keep a watchful eye on him once the festivities are dealt with, and what is rightfully mine belongs to me." Once that was said the line went dead as her superior had hung up.

Stashing the small device away back into her pocket Cinder smirked to herself as she stood to leave for the coliseum.

Once the contingency went into effect and Vale fell, she would direct her attention back to Abell. Whether he turned on her or not mattered little as all she needed to do then was to seduce the man into eventually taking her as his bride.

Once that was accomplished, the good Lord's men would find nothing of their leader but a pile of ashes and metal.

If the way each of his generals and soldiers addressed him as their 'Lord', then by what she can recall from when kings ruled over Remnant so long ago, than as his bride she would be made Queen.

With no one to turn to but herself, she would take down the remaining three kingdoms with her newfound soldiers marching behind her. But all of this was still just a seed planted into the ground, and would need time to grow into the plant that would bear more fruits of success to her.

It would take time for her to not only gain Abell's trust, but that of his subjects as well. When that time _did_ come and she had a true army behind her, along with her intellect and cunning the three remaining kingdoms stood little chance.

"That's if they haven't torn each other apart by then that is." Cinder's smirk grew into a devilish grin as she walked out of her room and into Beacon's halls.

…

The Vytal Festival was a time to remind the world of the long lasting peace between each kingdom. For decades this sacred event has been shared amongst all of Remnants strong standing kingdoms.

For most it was a time of not only peace, but a time to prove oneself and bring glory to their kingdom; while others just simply enjoyed the competition amongst the multiple schools of each combat school.

Thousands of viewers from all over the world come to the Vytal Festival to witness the battles waged between teams from each Huntsman academy.

For those not interested in the competition there were fairgrounds held along the chosen kingdom's academy. Both the fights and fairgrounds kept a good balance to support the happy atmosphere to keep the citizens in a fair mood.

After all, if every single person within Amity coliseum were to suddenly feel a sudden surge of fear and negative emotions. Well, then every Grimm within twenty miles would be there faster than anyone could even scream.

That was what they were here to help accomplish.

Within a secluded section of the locker rooms provided to competitors sat four individuals.

They hailed from Sunset Academy located within a far off city within the deserts of Vacuo.

The first one was of average height; a little thin but wore thick, bronze metal armor around his arms, legs, and torso. A faded blue tunic wrapped itself around his common frame while two fairly large shoulder guards shown from beneath the tunic.

Sitting across his lap was a massive halberd that stood taller than he by a head. The inward ax-head was menacing while a tipped spear headed off the weapon at the top. The weapon was, despite its weight, struck almost as fast as lightning.

A brass helm obscured his face as the visor was down. His name was Linder.

The second was also of average height, but unlike the first he was a tad thicker in girth. He wore a knight's armor and, although terribly worn like his brown cloak, the black armor beneath was light and offered good defense.

Within its sheath lay a standard longsword with no special properties while a medium metal shield rested on his back. The only noticeable thing about the shield was the silver tower that symbolized what it meant to be a knight once.

His black helm obscured his face as the visor lay shut. He was simply known as B.

The third was almost average height, but fell short by only half a foot when compared to the first two. He wore light leather armor that had been dyed black ages ago. Metal plates clung to his left arm while two metal shin guards clasped around his legs.

He only carried two daggers with him, but they were special. Clutched in his right was a gold tracer while grasped in his left was a dark silver one. The gold would blind his enemies while the jagged edge of the dark silver would spill their blood upon the ground.

His metal mask of a sealer obscured his face as it wrapped around it tightly. His name was Tyrion.

The fourth and final was above average height as he stood a head taller than the three assigned to him. His armor made him nearly impenetrable at the cost of his mobility. Thick stone armor and chains would have brought any other man to his knees from just the sheer weight of it, but he was not like any other man.

His immense strength allowed him to carry not only his armor, but both his stone shield and tooth. Given to him as a gift, he carried a relic from the age of Ancients as his grip tightened around the black "handle" of the dragon tooth.

The dark depths of his stone helmet allowed none to see the glowing white eyes that lay beneath it.

He was the Warhol.

"Now calling team Wartable to the arena!" A voice that they had once recognized bellowed over the intercom as all four of them rose simultaneously at the call.

The first three fell into single file behind the fourth, the one embedded in stone as the light of the arena grew brighter.

The stone clad one had to cover his eyes as the suns' light shone on them for the first time in months.

"WELCOME TO THE VYTAL FESTIVAL!" Peter Port bellowed into his microphone as his voice echoed throughout the entirety of Amity. After spending an agonizingly boring week in the hospital, through sheer will the Beacon history professor was back on his feet just in time for the festival.

It didn't show up on camera, but a sturdy cane rested itself to the side of the announcer's desk. It was required after _that_ mission where the portly professor still blamed himself for the deaths of the students he was assigned.

He made sure to notify and write a personal letter of apology to each of team CRDL's parents once he had been cleared from the hospital. But Peter Port made it his solemn vow to personally go and apologize to each members' family once the festival ended.

Along with that vow was a promise.

Peter's grip tightened around his microphone as he recalled the Grimm that had turned _that_ mission into such a tragedy.

Pure white fur, strange red-tipped quills producing from its body and black, bottomless pits for eyes. The only real relation it held to any known Grimm was that it resembled a Beowolf, but even then it would be an outcast amongst its kin with the strange _antlers_ that produced from the abomination's skull.

It was unlike anything the aged huntsman had ever encountered in his lifetime or Huntsman career. It would stay burned into his memory until the day he told his last tale.

"-re you okay? Peter." It was Bart whom carried a look of concern for his friend as Peter had lost himself in his thoughts… again.

"I-I'm alright! Forgive me, I was absorbed in thought." With a nod of conformation from Bart, Peter turned his attention back to the two new teams that had gathered within the arena.

Clearing his throat before beginning Peter announced the first team.

"We have a good fight for you all today! On the right hand side of the arena we have team SLVR { **Silver** }! These three lovely ladies and gentlemen hail from Vacuo and have come here to show their might to you all today folks!"

"That's right Peter, and from what I've heard of this team they pack quite a punch." Bart added in as Peter nodded in agreement. "And what about our other team?"

"These four gentlemen hail all the way from Sunset Academy all the way towards the edge of Vacuo's monstrous desert. Frankly I've never heard of many other academies in Vacuo save for Shade, but I'm sure even the smallest of schools can dream of winning." A few audible boos could be heard from the crowd as it seemed spectators from the same school were present today.

"But they must have a very exotic taste in fashion Bart, because I'm seeing a large variety amongst this team!" An enthused nod from Oobleck before the history professor took over for Peter, "Yes Peter; Sunset Academy specializes in close quarters combat mainly, but team SLVR holds an advantage over them with young Ms. Lilia's dual hand guns."

"Team WTBL { **Wartable** } everyone!" Peter shouted into his mic as he was already pumped up to witness the match unfold.

Back down to the arena both teams locked eyes with one another.

Team SLVR consisted of Silver, Lilia, Vergil and Richie. Silver was their team leader, and while she was a fox Faunus she still held both the respect of her teammates and fellow students.

Wearing a light pink kimono with small bright orange flowers, long sleeves made them drape underneath her arms. They never got in the way of her combat as she always made sure to stay light on her feet. Her long, silver hair fell down past her shoulders as she made sure her katana, Fang, was securely fastened to her hip.

Lilia had dark violet hair and wore a much more modern day outfit than her leader.

Blue jean shorts had a small chain run from the corner of one front pocket and across her thigh to the left side back pocket. A grey hoodie with the sleeves rolled up covered a navy blue t-shirt underneath. She wore a small necklace that held a tiny emerald green butterfly against her neck as Lilia used her staff/pistols as a makeshift pole to lean against.

Vergil wore a white trench coat with red sleeves and loose black trousers with one of the legs cut up to his lower thigh. His red hair seemed to express his personality as he was getting himself pumped up while steeled brown eyes locked with his opponent; the one carrying the large halberd. Readying himself, he placed a hand around his girl, a greatsword that if on the ground would stand as tall as he was.

Finally, Richie stood alert and ready but also held a focused nature behind her deep blue eyes. Wearing a sky blue V necked t-shirt that exposed some skin (for her fans) and a white "combat skirt" with a black line running down the right side; Richie smirked at the one covered in both rocks and chains while she cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

All the while team WTBL stood perfectly still as they waited for the announcer to begin the fight. They had all but two objectives: the first being to make it to the singles round, while the second included drawing as much attention away from the Witch and her underlings as they could.

Warhol felt a small vibration at the base of his neck vibrate just then.

A "gift" from the Witch as he felt the cold metal of the small device pinch into his skin while syncing with his pulse. It connected to his body's vital signs and generated an "aura."

Of course that was only for the large screen to show their "auras" deplete whenever they got hit. The hit would still impact his body with its full force and cause damage, but that was what the armor was for after all.

Each of them carried the same device attached to their necks and when he looked up to the large screen he noticed that the name that they used to enter was posted along with a large bar. It ranged from red on the left side, yellow in the middle, and green all the way to the right.

Turning away from the screen team WTBL locked their cold, blank eyes to team SLVR's vibrant ones. The one girl, Lilia, chuckled nervously when she met the dark depths of Warhol's helm before looking away.

Two screens appeared behind either team as various elemental symbols cycled through at a fast pace.

The screen behind WTBL stopped first as it landed on a symbol of a tree.

All four members of team WTBL turned to look at the landscape behind them as it changed from a plain, flat surface to a lush green forest. Multiple trees rose up ranging from a variety of brown, green, and orange leaves while a few rock formations were scattered here and there to provide cover.

A small clearing held the middle of the forest area.

The screen behind team SLVR stopped soon after before revealing a symbol of an erupting volcano.

Soon following the symbol a hellish landscape erupted behind the Vacuo team as charcoal, molten lava and ash covered the entire ground. Fire dust crystals protruded from the ground along with small fires sprouting up to add to the look of the land.

Silver sighed when she saw the arena they got before looking at the rest of her team. Both Vergil and Richie didn't seem bothered by the random choice of arena type that they received while Lilia looked nervous.

Her partner and friend fidgeted slightly as she got off her weapon and held it firmly in her grasp.

Silver looked over to their opponents, but her eyes narrowed on the one carrying a sword and shield. His weapons didn't look like they held any sort of guns or hidden mechanics that would later surprise them, but she knew better than to underestimate an opponent.

Silver sighed once more when Vergil opened his mouth, "So you guys are all from Sunset eh? I've heard that school doesn't even hold a very good Hunter program, and that they charge you extra since their equipment is always falling apart."

If they were insulted by Vergil's comments then they didn't show it as the big one in stone armor looked to the one with both sword and shield. Silver strained to hear the words passed between the two, if only to get an advantage, but it was as if no words were exchanged between the two.

He nodded to him and that was all it took for the hooded one to turn around and walk into to trees behind them. Silver's eyes widened when he seemingly vanished within the foliage.

' _Splitting up this early? Foolish.'_ Silver thought before addressing her team, "Vergil, both you and Richie go for the one with the halberd while I go after the one that wlaked into the forest."

"You're the boss."

"Heh, this'll be easy."

Both were confident, Vergil especially, but that wasn't always a good thing when it came to combat. Silver shook her head to clear her thoughts; now wasn't the time to re-discuss their strategy as she turned to Lilia.

"You got their leader Lil." Her partner looked nervously at her, but Silver just gave her a reassuring smile that seemed to calm the girl as the announcer was about to begin the fight.

"3….!"

Team SLVR lowered themselves into their fighting stances.

"2…!"

The remaining members of team WTBL all gave a small bow to their opponents before they too crouched down slightly in preparation.

"1…!"

Lilia took one last deep breath before the announcer burst everyone's eardrums.

"FIGHT!"

Silver was fast as she dashed right past all three members of WTBL before shooting off into the forest. She climbed up a tree to find a good vantage point as she surveyed the surrounding area.

The sounds of clashing weapons were behind her and began to fade, but they picked up a distinct sound.

"Was that… crackling?" She asked herself quietly before she heard a faint rustling off in the distance. Alert, Silver spotted the flashing of a brown cloak ducking behind a tree before vanishing.

Drawing Fang she made her way through the foliage until she came upon the small clearing in the middle.

There wasn't much lighting in this part of the forest, but thankfully her Faunus enhanced eyesight didn't worry about that as she spotted her prey standing in the middle of the clearing.

He was just standing there looking directly at her within her hiding spot.

"You know that you're leader isn't really clever if he thinks that dividing us up this early will grant him an advantage. Vergil and the rest can handle themselves without me." She was down and standing within the clearing within seconds as she tried getting a feel for this guy.

He didn't respond as he just stood there looking at her. It was beginning to annoy her as she wasted no time and ran forwards with Fang poised to strike.

He dashed away out of reach as she reared her weapon back and tried again to hit him, but he simply back stepped out of range. Backing away she distanced herself before he could attack, but he made no move to as he simply circled around her slowly.

It was her third attempt at striking him did he retaliate.

Once again well out of Fang's reach, he appeared into her guard. It caught her by surprise when he got so close as she didn't react fast enough to… feel him poke the center of her forehead?

Quickly putting distance between them and feeling a little weirded out by her opponent Silver made an attempt to inquire some info out of him.

"What are you playing at?" Silver received no answer as once he made it around her he went back to the middle of the clearing.

Silver sighed again as she asked herself, "Why do I always get the nut jobs?"

…

Outside the forest and on SLVR's front a battle raged on between the three members of each team. Vergil had been separated from Richie when the guy with the halberd shot _lightning_ from his weapon!

Freaking lightning!

Vergil was currently taking on the short one with the dual daggers, and hated to admit it, but he was actually having trouble holding his ground.

His slow attacks (when compared to his opponent's own) left too many openings for the speedy bastard to get in and chip a little of his aura away with each swing.

Vergil knew that if he could land one hit on this guy then it would be over for the pipsqueak.

"Ooohh. It looks like Virgil is starting to heat up." Port joked to both the dismay of the audience and Vergil's growing frustration.

Tyrion rolled out of the way of the greatsword as it came crashing down onto the molten bedrock. Sending small pieces of stone flying as he dashed behind Vergil dragging his gold tracer along his left thigh.

' _ **How much longer?'**_ Tyrion thought to the others as Warhol responded with some frustration in his voice, _**'Not until their leader is dealt with- AAAARRRGGGHH!'**_

Warhol roared in frustration as he smacked his Dragon's tooth down on what he thought was the small girl beneath him, but to his mounting anger she had flanked him.

Vergil mimicked the internal roar with his own out loud as Tyrion jabbed both of his daggers into the back of his opponent. Unfortunalty Vergil's aura protected against any blood loss as he brought his greatsword around overhead.

If Vergil wasn't getting so frustrated over not being able to land a hit, then he would have noticed how his aura was beginning to reach into the yellow.

"You piece of shit just let me hit you!" Vergil shouted as Tyrion rolled to the side once more as the greatsword landed closer this time. Folding his arms in disappointment and shaking his head, Tyrion would have laughed at the pitiful display if he were still capable of something so joyous.

" _ **Nothing more than a child."**_ Tyrion rolled to avoid another thrust from the boy's oversized sword.

This went on for a good duration as Tyrion dodged, parried, and countered as Vergil's anger finally hit its peak. Imbedding his greatsword into the earth with enough force to cause cracks to web all the way to Tyrion's feet, the hunter in training finally had enough.

"The others might have found this arena to put us at a disadvantage, but it works _just_ fine for me." There was an edge in Vergil's voice as the cracks began to glow a deep blue as Tyrion kept a close eye on his footing.

Blue pillars of fire burst forth from beneath the earth, reaching up and into the sky up above. Not able to move fast enough to avoid it, Tyrion's right arm got caught in the inferno.

Vergil was more disappointed than surprised when he didn't hear him scream.

He was in pain all right, but once the flames died down and the smoke cleared only then did Vergil's eyes widen.

The robe covering T's arm was completely burned away and revealed a black, charred arm. It was paper thin and looked to be near the bone as boney like fingers wrapped around the hilt of his gold tracer tightly.

Setting Vergil with a glare that promised pain, Tyrion grasped the gold tracer in both hands and charged forward. Vergil couldn't move, his semblance holding him in place for at least another minute, but by then he would be out of it.

Trying to call to one of his teammates for aid, he soon found out that they were both too preoccupied at the moment with their own opponents.

Lilia would dodge around the big guy with ease, but whenever she tried attacking with her pistols in their pole form her weapon would simply bounce off.

She preferred to use the melee form of her dual pistols, but Vergil knew that against an opponent in that thick of armor then she would never get anywhere.

Richie was in a similar boat, but she was actually landing her strikes on her opponent. Unfortunately he landed more than her and with each hit a course of lightning would go through her.

Silver was nowhere to be seen, but judging how only her aura meter was going down Vergil knew that it wasn't going well for her.

A shadow loomed over him as Tyrion wasted no time in performing a long dance of cuts and slashes with his gold tracer. Multiple cuts bled from Vergil's body as he was physically forced back as his aura dipped down past the red mark.

"And that takes out Virgil. Tyrion showed quite a fantastic display of experience with his weapons there, wouldn't you agree Peter?" Port nodded in agreement as they both continued to watch on.

Tyrion turned and walked calmly into the forest waiting beyond without a second glance back to the child of an opponent.

…

Richie was having the time of her life right now! The electricity flowing through her was getting her pumped as she and Linder traded blows.

Now while her semblance didn't allow her to absorb said electricity like that Valkyrie girl from yesterday's fights, it did do something else for her. Richie placed some distance away from her opponent before activating her semblance.

Throwing a few jabs in front of herself for a warm up, they soon picked up in speed as her fists began glowing a blinding yellow.

"It looks like Ms. Richie is about to activate her semblance thanks to Mr. Linder's lighting attacks!" Oobleck announced as a good majority of the crowd cheered for Vacuo's martial arts champion. "And it looks like she really has the crowd riled up as well."

"I don't know about you Bart, but if I were Mr. Linder right now I would be on my guard." Port warned as he began thinking of a way to take down his opponent within the few spare seconds he had left.

Just as she was about all charged up Richie wasted no time in dashing straight towards Linder as he held up his halberd with both hands in defense.

He was running out of distance and time as the girl would be upon him within no time. Warhol was too preoccupied with trying to smash his opponent into the ground, and Tyrion had left to go and enact one of the rituals.

They were either too preoccupied or far away enough that he couldn't communicate with any of them.

' _ **Guess it's time for my trump card.'**_

Out of options and with his opponent about to be on top of him, Linder went with his last resort.

Reaching beneath his tunic he pulled out a small metal chime, gifted to him by Grandahl before they had departed for Vale. Brining the chime close to his lips, Linder began citing the once forbidden hymns.

Richie was upon him just as his chime began to illuminate with an unholy light, but he made sure to hide it within the fabric of his armor until it was fully ready. Her punches were as fast as lightning itself.

They assaulted all across Linder's body as the same electricity from his own weapon filtered through the girl and straight back at him. Attempting to block the too fast punches proved futile as the halberd's pole could only catch one punch at a time.

Feeling the impact on the thick metal was followed up with three more along his abdomen.

The small device attached to his neck began to emit a loud ringing sound that deafened his ears as it signaled that his apparent "aura" had reached below zero. Thankfully the girl did not here it as her punches stopped entirely and she smirked at her small victory for her team.

"Mr. Linder's aura has been completely taken out and therefore he is out of the match." Oobleck announced to the dismay of some members of the crowd who had been cheering for WTBL.

"Better luck next time." Richie said before going off to help Lilia out with the big guy.

"Not… just yet… wench…" Linder was breathing heavily as he knew that both his armor and body had been badly damaged by the girl's fists. Shakily drawing forth his sacred chime, the Climax hex was ready as he raised his arm in her direction.

When Richie didn't even turn around to regard his threat, putting it off as nothing more than curses at her, she didn't see the projectile flying straight at her.

All that the cameras could pick up was a black blur flying straight through the air, its intended target never seeing it coming.

Richie stiffened like a deer in the headlights as the Climax hex was sent straight into her back.

The audience gasped in horror as what remained of her aura had taken much of the blow, but it still wasn't enough to stop it as it left severe burns across her entire back. Her skin was charred black in a few areas with the rest either already fallen off or peeling off to reveal swollen muscles.

Fortunately for her there wasn't much blood bleeding at the moment, but she would need medical attention immediately if they wished to keep it that way.

Richie fell forwards onto her stomach as paramedics came to retrieve her. Thankfully they had been fighting near the edges of the arena so they had easy access to her without the threat of being swept up in the other fights.

As they hoisted her up they warily looked back towards Linder as he too fell forward onto his front as (unbeknownst to everyone except his team) he died right there on the spot.

Another team of paramedics would come and retrieve him once they had finished taking care of Richie.

"I-it looks like team WTBL have lost their first member, but they still hold the advantage with a three on two fight!" Port announced a little shaky at first as he narrowed his eyes down to Linder's (presumed unconscious) form.

"That was quite the trick of Mr. Linder to pull on Ms. Richie, but sometimes you have to take your opponent down with you if it means securing victory." Oobleck adjusted his glasses as he took a sip of Beacon brand coffee. It calmed his nerves as he drew everyone's attention to the still visible battle happening between Lilia and Warhol.

"It looks like that the fight may even up at this rate if Ms. Lilia keeps dodging like this." Oobleck pointed out as everyone saw how Warhol's attacks seemed to be getting slower and slower as the fight progressed without him landing a single hit on the girl.

Lilia had not made one move against him as her usually not-so-confident self was getting a sudden boost as she easily rolled out from beneath Warhol's massive rock hammer. It looked more like a tooth to her from the brief glances that she took of it, and that made her curious about not only him but his entire team as well.

He grunted as he lifted back up his Dragon's tooth once more as he aimed for… well anywhere that would guarantee a strike.

The audience was beginning to get annoyed at both competitors as they either didn't hit one another, or failed to land a hit. Their booing increased as Lilia began to get cocky as she jumped out from the hammer's range, once the thing slammed into the molten rock she jumped up atop the ball at the top of the weapon.

Lilia smiled as she tapped playfully at the side of his weird stone helmet before jumping off to avoid being flung up into the air as he lifted up the massive thing.

"Stay still you bitch!" He growled with such ferocity and spite that it caused Lilia to lose that cockiness for a moment for it to be replaced by a scowl.

"Once this is over your putting a lien in the swear jar I carry." Lilia's confident smile came back after Warhol let out another angered snarl.

Honestly, to her he was more like a savage beast than a man as he ran at her with must have been his top speed.

It was disappointing to say the least. His hammer was clutched in both hands as Lilia rolled away as he continued to pursue her.

Backing away further until they came close to some fire dust crystals, Lilia had a plan forming in her mind on how she was finally going to end this. However, she raised a confused brow once she saw him kneeling down and, to her benefit, breathing heavily.

"Looks like all that weight finally got to you eh big guy?" She taunted him by stepping a little closer to him while using her pole to tap him on the helmet again. She was beginning to grow bored as only a barely audible grunt was his response.

"Come on tiger, where was all that rage and aggression just a few moments ago huh? Do you want me to call the medics to come and give you a water bottle?" Her confidence continued to grow more and more as he tried swatting away her weapon, but she kept moving it to the other side when he went to make a grab for it.

"Come on!"

"Boo!"

"Just finish him already!"

People from the crowd were shouting at _her_ now as they just wanted someone to get out already. Huffing to herself in slight annoyance at how her fun was coming to an end, Lilia walked over to the fire dust crystal and smashed a chunk off with her pole.

Cradling the large piece in her left arm and holding her weapon in her right Lilia threw the fire dust crystal underneath his chest where chains met the ground.

Finally, she had transformed her weapon into its dual pistols form Monte and Carlo as she took aim at the fire dust crystal. It looked like he was finally recovering as he propped himself up onto one knee.

"Shame our fun had to come to an end pal." Lilia threw in at the last moment as she was about to pull the trigger when Warhol made his move. It was faster than she could account for as he scooped up the crystal in his hand before chucking it towards Lilia.

She panicked and didn't realize her mistake until it was already too late as she pulled the trigger on Carlo. The bullet met its target as intended, but too close as the fire dust exploded right in front of her.

The blast had actually sent her forwards as the dust crystal hadn't went off until it was directly behind her. She skidded across the heated ground beneath her before she collided with an unmovable force.

Cracking her eyes open she was met with the large stone boots of Warhol as she looked up at his imposing form. He blocked the sun from her eyes and all her confidence and cockiness she held just minutes ago fled her as he placed both his weapon and shield to the ground.

A resounding _thud_ was heard as they contacted the ground right next to her head. Fear held her in place as he bent down and easily grabbed her entire face in just one of his meaty hands.

He wasn't gentle as he dragged her to what she thought was the edge of the arena.

Her opponent seemed to be able to read her thoughts as he chuckled darkly before lifting her up closer to his helmet. She couldn't see inside due to his hand obscuring her vision, but she did hear his chilling words right in her ear.

"That's too easy for you. You deserve to burn like the Sinner had."

She had no idea who he was talking about as she managed peek through a gap in between his fingers, and what she saw scared her.

Where the fire dust crystal had exploded a fire lay in its aftermath. A mixture of searing red and burning orange stung her eyes as he lifted her just before the flames.

"No no please no _please_!" She begged as the fires licked at her heels. "PLEASE!" She screamed this time as fire had always been one of her greatest fears. It was why Silver and her team were disappointed in what arena they got as they knew that Lilia was afraid of fire.

However, when her team split up and left her alone with Warhol, she had no choice as he forced her into the fiery landscape. Due to his inability to even land a single hit on her she grew more confident until she had completely forgotten where she was.

Her cries fell on deaf ears as, just before he dropped her, she saw the two glowing white eyes that bore into her own. They glowed with delight and malice as she held their gaze all the way down into the flames.

They hurt at first, and she would have gotten herself out of there had it not been the _heavy_ boot that came crashing down on her abdomen. It felt like a Goliath had decided to lie atop her stomach as she screamed in pain across her form.

Warhol only watched with a blank stare as his anger from before left him as soon as she met the flames.

Her screams did nothing to move him off of her as the fire ate away at her aura. It wasn't until he heard the announcer's concerned comments did he finally remove his boot form her abdomen.

What remained of her clothes were charred black while the rest had been burned away. Lilia was covered from head to toe in burn marks as she lay unconscious on the ground.

The fires had been snuffed out through her constant, panicked movements. To say that the crowd was surprised would be an understatement as they watched on in stunned awe as Warhol gently picked up Lilia and carried her over towards the edge of the arena.

Paramedics that had come to retrieve Linder had instead taken her as Warhol went to retrieve his weapons. Once both were retrieved he began heading off into the fake forest to make sure that B was done playing around with SLVR's leader.

…

Silver backed away as another phantom came at her.

It didn't get far as its chest met the tip of her katana and the mindless thing walked straight into it. It disappeared into wisps of smoke and dark embers as Silver was breathing heavily as she looked up towards her opponent.

B still stood in the middle of the clearing in the same position that he was in when their fight began. Fight wasn't even a proper term as she hadn't been able to get a single hit on him as these damn phantoms kept coming out of nowhere it seemed.

Her opponent simply stood there and made no move to attack her as two more phantoms came out of the brush when she tried dashing towards him.

They were simple enough to take down, but their appearance unnerved Silver a bit when she briefly glanced at their jack-o-lantern like faces. Their bodies were covered head to toe in some kind of black ink that caked the ground whenever she cut one down. Glowing white eyes regarded her as nothing more than something to kill as they ran at her.

The head of the first one to reach her rolled before she bisected the second one at the abdomen.

Silver gritted her teeth as she had made absolutely no progress in getting closer to B as she looked up at the coliseum's monitor that displayed their auras. Her eyes widened with shock when she saw that she was the last one still in this fight while _three_ of team WTBL still remained.

' _They'll be heading here no doubt, but how did they take out the others so quickly?'_ Silver didn't have time to think on the answer as B seemed to notice this too as more phantoms came out from the woods. _'And how come that fat bloke up there isn't commentating on… whatever_ this _semblance is?'_

There were nearly a dozen of the freaks as they wasted no time in converging on her position.

Time seemed to slow down for Silver as all of the humanoid creatures barreled their way towards her like they were Grimm.

' _Maybe they are…'_ Was her last thought as Silver activated her semblance. This time everything slowed down to nearly a standstill. Silver could actually walk right by each of the strange phantoms with ease as she made her way towards her opponent.

He made no visible movement, to her at least, as she felt that if he was the one sending these things after her then she would take them all down at the source.

Taking a deep breath Silver ran her katana across B's abdomen and chest with a flurry of quick, consecutive attacks. She smirked as time sped back up and her attacks caught up to her unsuspecting opponent.

His entire body looked as if it were being riddled with bullets as it jolted in the directions that her strikes had come from. To her horror though she saw how each strike caused crimson blood to spill out of his chest and onto her clothes.

B crumpled to the ground as his lifeless eyes stared up to the white clouds up above.

Silver knelt down in stunned silence as she shook the corpse of the person she just murdered. Did he have no aura? Was her first thought, but she quickly revoked that thought as the monitor showed him to still be in the green.

Her eyes widened as she quickly stood up and looked over towards the phantoms to see… nothing. They had all vanished into wisps of smoke like their brethren before them, leaving nothing but more of that black ink-like substance.

She shouldn't have taken her eyes off B's 'corpse' as the crimson blood began running black and leaked out in rapid succession. It managed to pool underneath her feet and covered the entire clearing within seconds. It was all the same ink that the phantoms were made of as it began to boil beneath her.

Trying to jump out of the ink proved ineffective as her feet had sunk into the sludge and were stuck there.

Soon after she herself was beginning to _sink_ into the black ink! Quickly thinking Silver undid the buckles of her shoes before making another attempt to jump out of the ink before it got to her.

She had just left the ground when something clasped around her ankle. It felt surprisingly warm to the touch as it yanked her back down into the ink. Looking back down at what had grabbed her Silver stifled a scream as what looked like a disfigured version of one of the phantoms was slowly climbing its way up her leg.

Making an attempt to draw Fang and kill the freakish nightmare before it advanced any further proved futile as two other disfigured phantoms held down her arms. They then pinned her to the ground where the ink seemed to wrap itself all over her as it even covered her mouth.

Forget winning the tournament, all Silver wanted right now was for both her and her team to be as far away from these _monsters_ as fast as possible.

A shadow loomed above her and, thinking it was another phantom, Silver glared at whatever had stood over her. To her shock it was B whom was completely unharmed from her attack earlier as he knelt down so that his face was directly above her own.

Silver could just make out the quiet (hollow) breaths taken in by B as he reached up and flipped open the visor of his helmet.

She would have screamed if it wasn't for the ink that wrapped around her mouth as the _exact_ same white eyes that the phantoms held were within the head of the teen before her. Their intensity seemed even harsher than the phantoms themselves as Silver, whom could not take anymore, passed out.

B flipped down his knight's visor before poking the same spot that had put the girl within the illusion. Of course, he too could see the illusion as it faded back into a calm and peaceful scene in the forest.

"Well it seems that Mr. Bronze's semblance is along that of either hypnosis or illusionism. He most certainly put on quite the show for Ms. Silver through one heck of a trance as he never even once left his spot in that clearing folks." Port announced that last bit of data as all three remaining members of WTBL came into the center of the arena once more.

"Ladies and gentlemen, team WTBL is victorious!" Pork exclaimed loudly as cheers and whistles sounded from the crowd while others chose to remain silent.

' _ **Has the first ritual been completed Tyrion?'**_ Warhol asked through their shared thoughts once they were close enough.

' _ **Yes, the summoning sign has been placed within the forest side of the arena that both B and I were in. It will remain hidden, and will be there when the time comes for our Lord to make his presence known.'**_ Tyrion answered without any second thought as he hid his burned arm well away from the crowd. _**'Shame about Linder though.'**_

Warhol had already walked over towards the corpse, still slightly warm, as he placed both his tooth and shield onto his back before bending down to pick up the body. Carrying Linder in a bridal style Warhol ordered, _**'Get his weapons Tyrion. It's time to report to Lord Abell.'**_

All three took one last bow to the audience before they all walked out of the arena without another word.

…

It was half past midnight at Beacon and everyone, including the staff, had all seen themselves off to bed as a starred filled sky loomed over them. Not a breathing soul was up and about at this time of night, so it was good that he was nothing more than a fragment of one.

The man that he once was had all but been consumed by the Abyss within himself as the acolyte had taken his place instead.

It had taken some time to gather the necessary supplies without getting caught, but he had finally secured the tools that he would need to break into Ozpin's office. The first two locks had been bypassed by the Witch's virus, but the third was a manual one which was giving him the most trouble so far.

His white eyes flashed beneath his blue Atlas security helmet as a distinct * _click*_ sounded.

The doors opened without as much as a squeak, but he made sure to do it slowly anyways just in case. Scanning the empty room for any signs of added security before coming up empty, the acolyte had gotten to work.

Heading over behind Ozpin's desk the acolyte used the man's previous knowledge and experiences to work the secret console. In no time he got the thing up and running before pulling out a Scroll with the screen flashing a picture of a Queen piece from chess.

Setting it upon the glass surface he was intrigued as small ripples were sent out across the desk and multiple files were brought up. Thankfully, he didn't have to sort through them all since his time here would be limited as a single file was left after the rest had been closed.

Opening the file to reveal its contents the acolyte memorized the code before closing the file, removing the Scroll and strolling over towards the elevator he had come up in.

There beneath the buttons to take oneself to different floors was a scanning device. Pulling out the Scroll once more he placed it before the identification scanner and the tiny Scroll did all the work as the scanner blinked green.

For all intents and purposes, the acolyte was Ozpin.

Inputting the code from the file the acolyte began its descent towards the bowels of Beacon Academy.

He was lucky that after his Lord had left after the Sentinel's purification had begun, that the General hadn't held any suspicions towards him. Of course, he had been questioned about what had occurred, but the acolyte knew what story to spin as it placed all the blame upon the Sentinel.

" _ **May the Abyss cleanse his mind of his impurity."**_ He arrived at his destination sooner than he expected as the doors slowly opened to reveal the chamber. The same chamber that his Ascendant witnessed when the Headmaster's dog tainted the Sentinel with their light.

He grimaced at the thought of such a thing befalling him as he made his way deeper into the Headmaster's secret dungeon.

It was when he saw a faint blue glow coming from another console did the acolyte known he had arrived. The console was different in shape compared to Ozpin's and was connected to a machine of sorts sporting two tubes that came out from the top. Each tube ran in the opposite direction until they connected to two metallic coffins.

The right one was empty as the window revealed nothing but a dark interior. His eyes were drawn to the coffin on the left as it was _not_ empty.

Glowing white eyes roved over the form of the human female that had been encased within the metal coffin as he noted the damage she had taken across her body.

Lifting a hand and pressing it against the protective glass he was surprised to see small wisps of smoke coming up from beneath the flesh. It burned yes, but he did not remove the hand as the fascination of the child of Light took hold of his thoughts.

His head tilted to the side in curiosity as he just stood there and looked at the girl.

" _ **I have found one of her sisters, my Lord."**_ The acolyte whispered as, before he had time to even turn around, a strong grip grabbed around his jaw line while another hand planted itself firmly to the back of his head.

A resounding * _SNAP*_ echoed throughout the chamber as both the lifeless body of the Atlas soldier and acolyte fell to the ground. Ozpin's breaths came in short gasps as it was the first time in a _long_ while since he had to kill his fellow man.

Especially in such a harsh manner.

"We've been breached…" Ozpin told himself as he looked down at the tiny black flame that sprouted from the dead soldier's chest.

He could only stare at the tiny black sprite that had ended now two men's lives as he thought of the ill omen the black flame now presented.

' _How many more lives will you continue to snuff out I wonder.'_

* * *

 **I honestly can't believe how much love and attention this story has received over the past year since I first posted it. I could only dream of it reaching this height, and I have all of you to thank for it. From the constant support to the kind comments, and let's not forget about the very helpful constructive criticism.**

 **This story is almost at two hundred followers, and well over half-way to two hundred favorites. We still have a long way to go with this journey and I hope you all will stick with me until we reach the end.**

 **I feel that this chapter was pretty good, and I know that I'm still bad at combat scenes, but I will constantly try and improve upon that for the future my friends! Also, I dropped many hints throughout this chapter as to whom team WTBL consists of. I'm sure it was painfully obvious for a lot of you for some time now but… if you missed it, you must be blind!**

 **I'll talk to you all in the next chapter :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hello once again everyone! As I'm sure you'll all see once this chapter is uploaded, the cover image for the story has changed. Unfortunately when I tried uploading the original image this site messed it up somehow, and it won't change even with the editor. I just thought that everyone should get the chance to see it (despite how atrocious it looks now).**

 **Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **A Change in Plans**_

A great grey landscape stretched on for as far as the eye could see in every direction. Large mounds of rock and land covered most of the ground, with caverns that interloped to the point where one wouldn't be able to tell where they were if they entered.

Dead trees stood tall, caking over parts of the landscape providing thick coverage from an airborne predator with their boney fingers. If one starred too long at them, they could see the fingers reaching up to drag them down within their grasp.

The most dangerous part of the Grimmlands was the fog.

Pale grey and too thick to see three feet ahead of oneself. Perfect for any ground borne Grimm to hide and plan out an ambush for unsuspecting prey.

It was why Janet was thankful that she was up in the air and not on the ground.

She had been assigned to join the small strike team that Ironwood had handpicked to venture into the Grimmlands in search of a suspected terrorist. She hadn't exactly been paying all that much attention during the briefing, but she had good reason.

Sweet Smash was just too addictive and _so_ much fun!

But Janet knew the seriousness behind being in the Grimmlands alone. Putting away her Scroll and focusing on flying, Janet looked out for… nothing.

"Can someone remind me exactly why we're here again?" Janet spoke into the communications device within her cockpit as she waited for a response. They had been flying for the past two and a half hours since entering the Grimmlands and not a single Grimm confronted them once!

A gruff sigh came from the team's commander, Sergeant Samuel Dipper, as Janet imagined him pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"We've already been over this Janet. Didn't you pay _any_ attention at the briefing?"

"Ahhh nope! So Sarge, care to remind me since we've clearly have open skies?" Janet had only been in the Atlas military for just under a year now, but she rose faster in rank than most of her comrades. Whether it was because of her 'attentive' personality, or just her skills piloting a Bullhead she would never know.

"Yeah, what's with that Sarge? Been flying through these bland clouds for almost three hours now, and yet none of us have seen any signs of Grimm." Private Marco questioned as they passed over what appeared to be river with clean water running through up north.

"I can't answer that one private cause I don't know myself, and Janet, since you clearly didn't bother to actually listen to the briefing from the General _himself_ , I'll give you a tiny refresher." Sergeant Dipper always sounded disappointed with Janet, and while she could understand this one time, let it be known that Janet thought that Dipper had it in for her.

"We're here to find and locate a possible terrorist threat that could be in cooperation with the White Fang in Vale. General Ironwood speculates that it could be an entire new group that no one has ever seen before, and we are to target and eradicate them on sight."

That had pretty much summed it all up in terms of the mission. Each of their Bullheads had been outfitted with enough bombs to level out half of Forever Falls.

"Then why not send in the entire goddamn army if these alleged terrorists are out in the _freaking_ Grimmlands?!" Marco asked without realizing he already answered his own question.

"Well it's as you said private. These are "alleged" terrorists. In being so Ironwood can't send out his entire fleet on just a whim, but personally I think the good General's work is getting to him a little. Who in their right minds would set up an HQ all the way out here? Let alone defend it." Dipper's tone held that small hint of confusion that told the rest of them that there was no further looking into it.

"Well terrorists or not, I'm getting spooked out here in Grimm territory. I mean Janet is right; a first I know, but how come the clear skies huh?" Private Daniel asked as Janet huffed in her pilot's chair.

"I'll remember that Daniel when we get back to the base." Janet warned in a sweetly calm voice that had Daniel shiver a little. "Besides, Sarge, starting to get low on fuel if we're going to have enough to make it back before it gets dark."

"We make one more flyby around that mountain pass and then we'll turn back. But you all are right. Something isn't right." Dipper had been proudly serving Atlas for five long years, but he always chose to refuse a promotion to a higher rank as he felt that it was his swore duty to pass on his knowledge to each and every squad he had been assigned to.

Dipper personally thought that once a squad transferred to another unit, he would stay behind to begin passing his experiences to the next generation.

Of course he always got the inexperienced kids though instead of actual soldiers.

When Ironwood approached him with this mission Dipper had gladly accepted it despite the risk of Grimm attack. Once (if) they found where the terrorists were located then they could proceed with the bombs.

"Hey Marco, how much to you want to bet that-" Daniels fell silent as a shadow passed above them.

"Hold. Weapons ready." Dipper ordered as the other three did so without question as all four single-piloted Bullheads faced each direction to cover all sides. Silence filled the air as each pilot held their fingers on the trigger that would fire their Bullhead's dual chain guns.

It was the formation that they were in that their scanners didn't pick up on the large swarm of tiny Nevermores flying up right underneath them in time. All four Bullheads were suddenly swarmed with the tiny birds as they hindered both their scanners and visibility.

Janet heard her comm. go off as she could just make out Dipper yelling, "Get out of the swarm!" Both Janet and Dipper went to one side as Marco and Daniel were still trapped inside as they flew wildly within the hundreds of black feathers and talons.

"Get out of there!" Dipper shouted as something _big_ was appearing up on his scanner. "Marco! Daniel!"

Janet stifled a scream as two explosions could just be seen within the thick mass of Nevermore; sending blood, gore, and black feathers everywhere.

It was hard to tell from the black, swarming mass of the tiny devils, but Janet could have sworn that she saw two giant Nevermores appear in the back of the swarm. Just as she was about to warn Dipper she noticed her radar read that they were heading _away_ from the conflict.

Neither wanted to admit it, but they were fortunate that the explosions wiped out a good amount of the smaller Nevermore. But they weren't home free yet as they all began converging back to her and Dipper!

Janet turned her Bullhead when she came to the realization that their weapons were ill-equipped to handle the numerous tiny Grimm. Dipper tried following after her, but was too slow however as the Nevermores caught up to him to the point where they completely covered him.

"Sarge?!" Janet called out as his ship could be seen going wild within the Nevermore swarm as Dipper tried getting out of it all.

"Go! Just go Janet! Report that the mission was a failure. Report that- AAAAAUUUUGGGHH!" Dipper screamed as his ship emerged from the swarm, but not in one piece as half a wing and the entire back of the Bullhead had been completely torn away.

If she had been looking she would have noticed the two large objects appearing on her radar. Only one of them was moving away from her.

Dipper continued to spiral out of control until Janet couldn't see him any longer, but that didn't stop her from _hearing_ the explosion that soon followed. She had become so distracted with how fast three of them had been killed that she failed to notice the face of the creature that had killed her friends.

It was unlike any Grimm that she had ever witnessed before.

Its face took up her entire field of vision as Janet judged it to be about the size of a large transport Bullhead. Obsidian, leathery skin covered its face as well as the rest of its body if she had to assume.

Upon closer inspection she saw that they were actually _scales_ that covered its face as they reflected the lights from her Bullhead.

From what she could see from behind the beast were two large, beating wings as they kept it airborne while it regarded her.

Two beady, white eyes regarded her with a sense of curiosity as she realized that those eyes held actual intelligence behind them. The deep growl that emitted from the Grimm's throat shook her to her very bones as- she did not suppress her scream this time.

A third, glowing, _orange_ eye opened right atop its forehead.

Its searing gaze bore into her mind as it seemed to be eating away at her very thoughts. Janet felt her nostrils bleed as a loud ringing filled her head until her ears bled. She held the things gaze until her eyes too began to bleed from meeting its searing gaze.

Janet thought back to the family she was about to leave behind for good before this thing destroyed her mind.

Janet Arc thought back to the parents that had raised her, the six sisters that she had played, laughed and eaten with throughout her entire life. And of course her little brother whom she loved so very dearly despite him running away from them all.

' _I love you all…'_ Was her last thought as darkness filled her vision.

The Black Dragon crushed the human's mind like a grape after that.

…

Jaune was enjoying a meal over his team's recent victory over team BRNZ when he suddenly lost interest in Nora's retelling of the time she and Ren held out for three days against a group of bandits with nothing but a cabbage and paperclip.

He began poking at his meal with disinterest when Pyrrha noticed his sudden change in mood.

"Is something the matter Jaune?" His ever caring partner worried about his well being as he regarded her from the corner of his eye.

"I'm fine Pyr." It was a poor excuse that the champion saw right through as she pressed the matter.

"Tell us what's the matter." She was stern and at that point Nora paused in the middle of her story as both she and Ren turned their attention towards their leader.

"You look like the time Cardin had been bully-" Nora quickly stuffed her mouth full of pasta to prevent herself from brining up anyone from team CRDL. Ever since Ozpin announced to the rest of the school about what happened to both Professor Port and CRDL, everyone seemed to just forget about the racists and bullies.

They may not have been well liked, or at all really, but to lose young Hunters so soon to the Grimm still filled everyone with some form of grief.

Even if just a little.

Negativity attracted the Grimm, so it was just best to not think too much about the fallen, but to never forget them.

Both RWBY and JNPR found it somewhat ironic how fast everyone at Beacon chose to forget about CRDL.

Team CRDL was now nothing more than dust in the wind to Beacon.

Jaune let out a tired sigh as he stood up before saying, "I don't know what it was guys, but it's passed now so there's no need to worry. See?" He put up the best genuine smile he could muster that fortunately satisfied his worried teammates as they paid for lunch and began walking through the fairgrounds.

It wasn't long until they heard Yang calling them over from another food stand.

Walking over the two teams began talking amongst themselves. Weiss and Ren were discussing combat strategies that would aid the heiress in the upcoming doubles round. Nora went into yet another bizarre tale from her dreams as Ruby, Yang, and Jaune listened with awe.

Pyrrha awkwardly sat next to Blake as the secret Faunus decided to read rather than interact with Mistral's champion. Giving up on making any form of conversation with Blake, Pyrrha turned to give her own advice to the Schnee heiress.

Ruby had been captivated by Nora's retelling of when she singlehandedly fought off an Ursa Major with only three tubes of frozen butter and one of her own socks. Ruby was listening intently when she heard the heavy * **clanking** *of chains along with heavy footfalls as she tore her focus away to see what was causing the commotion.

To her surprise it was team WTBL, or, at least most of their team seeing that one of their members was currently absent.

' _I need to meet that guy. His weapon had freaking lightning in it!'_ She practically was shaking in her seat with excitement when she thought what Crescent Rose could do with lightning encased rounds.

The one in the dark robes had his injured hand wrapped up in white bandages as he walked to the side of their team leader. It was Warhol if she recalled correctly.

Ruby found it odd how each wore the same combat attire that they fought in against SLVR, but she couldn't judge as both JNPR and her own wore theirs almost all day.

' _Maybe Weiss's fashion tastes are rubbing off on me.'_ Ruby shivered a little at the thought.

It didn't take long for the rest of each team to notice the new additions as everyone remained silent. After they all saw how effectively WTBL took down their opponents they knew that this team was near (if not on) their skill level. Unfortunalty it wasn't that which silenced them as all eyes locked onto the large form of Warhol.

After seeing what he did to that one girl with the fire, how he basically burned her _alive_ , he didn't stand too good of a light in their eyes.

Warhol and the rest of his team sat down upon the four empty seats off to the side of the food stand while leaving one empty seat open.

Without saying even a greeting Warhol beckoned for the chef/waiter to their side as a muffled, deep voice sounded from within the leader's strange helmet.

"Three waters. **"** There was a slight distortion to his voice that Ruby couldn't really describe as he spoke no further. The older man nodded and just as fast as Oobleck himself, dashed into the kitchen and back with three waters before placing one each in front of each member.

All in about five seconds.

Sensing the growing silence Pyrrha took it upon herself to break the ice between their group and the new arrivals.

"Umm… hello there!" They did not return her greeting as Tyrion grabbed his water and lifted his sealer mask up only _slightly_ before downing his drink. Regardless, Pyrrha tired again as Tyrion finished his drink in one gulp.

"Congratulations on your victory against SLVR." Silence was all that greeted her as Ruby came to her older friend's rescue.

"You all did really amazing out there, and those weapons are _amazing_! I mean they all were kind of basic when I first saw them but that doesn't mean that they aren't cool but not as cool as my baby or-" Ruby went into another one of her rants about weapons that immediately began to give some of her friends slight headaches before Warhol muttered two words.

"Shut up. **"**

Immediately Ruby did just that, but not without looking like a puppy that had just been kicked as she slumped down into her seat. This brought the ire of team RWBY (mainly Yang) as the blonde brawler stood up with such force that her stool fell back.

"Apologize." There was a barely concealed anger beneath the word as Yang was forcing herself to try and not cause a fight on the fairgrounds. If Warhol was intimidated by Yang none of them could tell as his weirdly shaped helmet hid his face.

Ignoring Yang entirely Warhol dumped the water _through_ the spaces between his helmet to the bewilderment of RWBY and JNPR. The sound of him swallowing said water was audible to them all as they all expected to see some pouring out down his neck, but to their surprise none came.

"Do I have to repeat myself? Apologize to Ruby." Yang was getting angry now as her hands slowly balled up into fists as she walked over to where WTBL sat.

"Yang." Blake called out in warning as her blonde partner ignored her as she was standing right behind Warhol. His back turned to her, Yang was about to turn him around when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Let go Vomit Boy." She warned as Jaune tries to talk her out of it.

"Yang-" It happened so fast that if any of them had blinked they might have missed it.

Warhol moved faster than any of them have ever seen.

He shoved Yang aside with ease as the blonde hadn't been expecting it and now the leader of WTBL stood in front of Jaune.

Jaune felt nervous when two heavy hands grasped his shoulders as Warhol looked down on the young knight.

Jaune was still surprised to see nothing but darkness within Warhol's helmet even though they were close. What came next chilled Jaune to the bone as Warhol whispered so lightly that Jaune doubted that even Blake could hear what he said.

" _P-a… e…me…"_ The voice that had come out sounded so frail and broken that Jaune pushed the larger teen away from him as he suppressed a shudder. Warhol was frozen in place as if a spell had been placed on him; until B came up and placed a comforting hand on the big man's shoulder.

That snapped Warhol out of whatever trance he was in as he shook his head before bowing to Jaune.

"My apologies. I thought you were someone… else. **"** Before any of them could say something Warhol signaled both B and Tyrion that they were leaving. What was left of WTBL walked further away before a thought struck Jaune before he shouted after them.

"Hey! Whatever happened to your last member?" Warhol froze again, and might have chased right back to Jaune had it not been for B grabbing his wrist somewhat forcefully.

Tyrion turned around as he said, **"** He was sent back home due to his injuries was all. **"** His voice too was distorted the same way as their leader.

That was all they got before the three were lost in the crowd of the many people enjoying the fairgrounds. None of them knew what to say as Yang went to pat Ruby gently on the head in comfort.

"What a bunch of weirdoes." Nora bluntly put it as she went back to her tail.

…

The crowds erupted into cheers as both Sun and Neptune stepped onto the arena floor. Fangirls of the famous Mistral team practically screamed when they saw the famous abs that had taken the kingdom by storm.

Waving to the crowd with smiles on their faces both soon turned to face their opponents whom came upon the arena next.

A clear difference in the volume of cheering could be heard as both Tyrion and B made their way to the center of the arena. While Sun held his excitement for the fight, Neptune couldn't help but feel cautious around these two.

Both had watched their fight with team SLVR and how the one with a sword and shield was an illusionist of some degree.

"Welcome all to the doubles round of the Vytal tournament! Today we'll be witnessing the dynamic duo; two partners in crime since they've known one another; and two of the youngest womanizers that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting!" Port exclaimed with a wink to all the women in the audience as some visibly shivered. "Sun and Neptune of team SSSN!"

Cheers erupted once more as they offered more waves to the crowd. Sun caught Blake's eye from across the stadium and sent a wink her way. As he turned around he could have sworn he saw her look down shyly.

"Let's not forget who they'll be facing against Peter. These two have demonstrated great skill in their own fights alone; with each able to dispatch their opponent while taken almost no damage to their aura! Although they dress strangely, I will not soon forget the unmatched fighting techniques that these two brought to the table. Tyrion and B of team WTBL everyone!" Both Oobleck and Port were pleased to see more cheers from the audience this time around.

Four holographic panels appeared, one in each corner of the arena as they all began the random process of selecting a fighting stage.

The first two that sat on Sun and Neptune's side slowed down revealing pictures of both rising platforms and rocks. Looking behind them each quarter of the arena began shifting into their images.

One quarter held strange purple platforms that all rose to all different positions while the other half changed to reveal a rocky terrain that looked only good for cover.

Seeing that neither of their opponents carried a long ranged weapon they wouldn't need the cover.

Sun didn't have to explain to Neptune where he would be going as his partner would no doubt take advantage of the risen platforms to pin down Tyrion and B.

Sun himself had the option of either defending Neptune for when they tried taking him down, or to go on the offensive to keep them busy while his blue-haired friend picked them off.

Behind Tyrion and B their own holographic images slowed until they settled down upon what looked like a temple of sorts and the other a… body of water.

Sun signed in annoyance when he saw Neptune go stiff as a board at the sight of the deep blue liquid.

' _This is going to be a long fight isn't it?'_ Turning on his partner he simply told him to head up towards the floating platforms _away_ from the water as Port began the countdown.

Neptune wasted no time nor made any argument as he was up there amongst the tall pillars within seconds as the monkey Faunus heard the portly professor shout out "FIGHT!"

Deciding to go on the defensive despite Neptune's fear resurfacing (again), Sun didn't waste time drawing out his semblance as a clone of light appeared right next to him.

Tyrion met him head on while B took on his clone with unnerving easiness.

From the corner of his eye he could see B parrying and rolling in-between his clone's attack. Whenever a strike was about to land B would simply block it with his shield before countering.

This Tyrion guy was no joke either as Sun was kept on his feet to dodge those blades. And of course he couldn't transform his weapons to their gun form as his opponent was way too close to even entertain the thought.

Ducking from a swing of a blade, Sun swung his staff and landed a blow to Tyrion's side as a small explosion sent him reeling back. He seemed surprised by this as Sun took advantage of his brief confusion as he continuously pushed Tyrion further and further back to the water.

If he could get him to stay there and somehow signal Neptune, then the same trick that they used against NDGO would leave WTBL one less member.

As if sensing his plan Tyrion removed himself from Sun's range by back flipping away from the dangerous water trap. Then, instead of facing him, he turned tail and ran towards the temple area while B dispatched Sun's clone.

' _Damn it._ ' He didn't want to allow his opponent to catch their breath, but then that would mean B could go after Neptune: who _still_ hadn't done anything besides breathing, shaking, and looking at the water as if it were going to bite him.

"You're on your own for this one Neptune." Sun turned and ran after Tyrion into the small temple that looked like a small fortress in a way.

…

Despite what Sun might have thought, Neptune was doing _four_ things actually. All of which included breathing, shaking, looking frightfully at the water, and trying to get a good shot on Tyrion.

Fortunately he knew where Sun had been going when he tried pushing their opponent towards the ***shudder*** water. Unfortunately, the mere sight of water caused him to hesitate and gave Tyrion enough time to figure out their plan.

Once both he and Sun ran all the way over to the small temple, Neptune couldn't see either anymore as he watched Sun go through the entrance. If it wasn't for the sound of hard steel being plunged into the platform below him, Neptune would have forgotten all about their other opponent.

B was making headway up towards him as Neptune took a deep breath before looking down his scope to get an easy shot. B made it up onto the platform below in time to see the bolt of blue energy coming straight at him. Just barely rolling out of the way B turned and saw the smoking spot of where he had been moments before.

"…"

B looked for the shortest path that would allow him to hurt his opponent. A lot.

Finding it he soon began running towards the next platform before jumping and catching the edge. Pulling himself up he had to bring up his shield to block the next blast. It broke his guard as his midriff was exposed momentarily as blue-hair lined up another shot.

Neptune gulped as B kept managing to roll out of the way of his shots before making his way up to the next platform. A few more and he would be upon him, and it flashed through his mind of what this guy was capable of.

Climbing up higher and higher both were soon making headway to the tip of the tallest of the platforms. From up here you were just below eye level to the seats further up in the stands near the top of Amity.

"Don't look down… don't look down… don't look-" He looked down and immediately felt a wave of dizziness take over as the water below looked like a small puddle now.

But even then he was still afraid, because puddles were dangerous, no matter how small.

Neptune turned to face B as he managed to make it up all the way at last. He was breathing a little heavily that at first sounded like wheezing, but after pulling out some sort of green leaf and consuming it, his breaths returned to normal.

There was still a good distance between the two as Neptune had the advantage of range. Lifting his rifle up he smirked so that his perfectly white teeth let out a small sparkle that the girls always fell for. Except Weiss and Yang of course.

"Sayonara man!" All his fear from before had fled him for a tiny moment as he pulled the trigger and a blast of blue energy shot out and knocked his opponent right off the platform.

The crowd cheered his name and he turned to see that even all the beautiful, young girls were climbing up to meet him. He was soon surrounded by their affection before Weiss and Yang pushed them all away before clinging onto him. They spoke to him about how cool he was, their feelings for him from the day they met him, and how much better his abs were than Sun's.

Although, none of that was real as his dust had run out and an audible ***click*** was heard as he couldn't fire anymore.

All the fear returned in that instant as B stood there in what appeared to be silent amusement. "… Shut up!" Spinning his gun around in the air it soon transformed into a mighty halberd as he began rushing B.

The cloaked man met him head on as they clashed in the middle of the platform.

Neptune should count himself lucky as it looked like B's shield had broken from the multiple blasts that it had taken. It lay broken on his back as the once silver tower had been completely destroyed and warped by the metal it lay upon. Parts of it lay in charred metal whilst others had been completely torn away.

So why was it that he felt that he was fighting a losing battle here?

And how could this guy keep parrying his attacks with his _bare hands_?!

Thankfully he was fast enough to avoid the thrust of B's sword as it sailed past his abdomen more than once.

Ducking beneath a swing before rearing his weapon back, he feigned aiming for B's left side. It worked as the cloaked knight didn't have time to parry the attack before it slid across the left side near his stomach.

B drew distance between them as he clutched at the injury. The black plates beneath his robes held, but a thin line of blood could be spotted if one were to look close enough. If his so called 'aura' was found out to be fake then all of them would be put under suspicion, or worse, figured out by one of the higher ups.

That was _not_ allowed to happen at any cost. Shifting his robes to cover up the injury as best he could, B had just enough time to raise his sword to block the three pronged fork that had replaced the halberds head just moments ago that was aimed for his chest.

Batting the multi-weapon away B dashed into Neptune's guard, which seemed to take him by surprise. Speculating that he wasn't used to close-quarter encounters B used that to his advantage as he let his free fist fly right into the man's handsome face.

It worked in stunning him as well as pushing him back a couple steps as B didn't let up. Shifting from using his fist to smacking Neptune in the head with the broadside of his sword, B continued his relentless assault.

…

Following Tyrion into the temple might not have been the best of ideas as there were at least twenty different places for him to hide. What the assassin wannabe probably didn't realize was the fact that Sun's Faunus heritage allowed him to see inside the temple as though it were broad daylight.

"Now where are you hiding?" Sun whispered to himself as he came across multiple statues of a man in armor. He stopped for a brief moment to look upon the statues and realized that they were the same as those armors used in Atlas in ancient times.

He briefly recalled overhearing Weiss talk about one of them to her team when they had all hung out a few nights before the dance.

He had been walking throughout the temple when he felt his foot sink into the ground.

' _Mud?'_ It wasn't so as his foot lifted up with ease and when he looked down he only saw the tiled floor of the small structure. If not for the rather loud sound of a projectile being fired, Sun would've been skewered as three iron-tipped arrows flew right over his head in fast succession.

Tyrion took the opportunity to strike then to catch him off guard as two sharp blades ran down his back.

"Ouch! What the hell man? Attacking while your opponent's back is turned? That's just rude." Sun didn't like the feeling of those blades on him even though his aura stopped them from drawing blood.

"Not rude, but intellectual." Tyrion shot back as he threw out his golden tracer towards the monkey's head. Sun lazily dodged it as he lifted a brow as he said in amusement, "I think your aim needs some practice."

Tyrion didn't say anything as the sound of rope being cut perked up Sun's ears as he turned around just in time to be knocked down by a giant guillotine. "Wha?"

His everything hurt as Tyrion dashed past him to retrieve his second dagger before ducking beneath the roundabout from the swinging blade.

Sun slowly stood up before cracking his back as he shouted, "A giant swinging guillotine dude? Seriously?!" His opponent let out a hissing sound that almost sounded like laughter as Tyrion's masked gaze found Sun's own.

"Like I said: intellectual." As soon as the words left his mouth he stepped onto a slightly raised up tile before flattening himself against the far wall. Sun's eyes widened when he saw arrows with flaming heads come screaming right towards him.

Spinning his weapon fast to deflect the projectiles, he couldn't turn around in time to see a second guillotine coming at him from the side.

Hit again he knew his aura was most likely in the yellow by now as he watch Tyrion have a fucking field day pressing hidden tiles that activated more and more traps.

Trying to get to the side of one of the statues seemed like a good idea at first, but that soon turned sour as the armor's greatsword came crashing down upon him.

If it weren't for the clone he put out then he would have had one less arm.

Seeing that he wouldn't last much longer in here, Sun knew that playtime was over as he shifted his staff into its dual pistol form. Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang were each clutched within either hand as he took note of the distance between him and Tyrion.

The annoying jerk was still too far for either his weapons to reach, and both knew that as Tyrion beckoned Sun over.

Tired of being played with Sun Wukong made a mad dash through all the various traps and swinging blades. If he could see Tyrion's face right now he knew that fear would be present as he dodged and weaved throughout each arrow, blade, and falling rocks.

Firing off both guns at once, Sun was honestly surprised to see how fast Tyrion crumpled from just four rounds alone. He didn't stir once he hit the ground with a dull * **thud*** as Sun was relieved when he heard Port's heavy voice boast at how Sun secured victory by knocking Tyrion out.

He twisted his body to land facing away from Sun and onto his stomach to which the Faunus couldn't see the four bleeding bullet holes in his chest and stomach.

He didn't want to leave the guy in here when he woke up to the hell that he put _him_ through not just moments ago. Just as he was about to go and grab the guy he heard a heart piercing scream come from all the way outside.

Abandoning the wannabe assassin to the temple, Sun ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards Neptune. Whatever that bastard had been doing to his friend, it must have triggered something deep within his partner.

He hadn't heard Neptune scream like that since the day his father didn't come back from the beach back when they were kids.

It was a few minutes after Sun left before a trembling hand pulled out the white sign soapstone. Tyrion began etching the second rune for the ritual.

…

It was all happening so fast that he was surprised to that he hadn't started hyperventilating yet. Neptune clutched at his beating heart as he drew in short, fast breaths as he couldn't seem to be getting enough air into his lungs as his gaze fell down to what lay below.

Or what was really rising up to claim him.

It was unbeknownst to him as to when the illusion had been put on him, nor could he convince himself that it was just that, an illusion. That reality was forced back to the depths of his mind by the sheer panic he felt as the raging waters rose higher and higher.

What started as calm clear water soon turned into raging waves as they swirled around the platform he and B had been fighting on for the majority of the fight. Dark clouds of purple and grey formed above Amity as they began pelting him with thick droplets of water.

Lightning even flashed a few times throughout the storm as with each second the angry waves drew closer and closer. The surface of the platform had become sleek from all the rainwater pounding down atop them that keeping balance was near to impossible.

Waves crashed from all sides as they forced Neptune into the center of the platform as he visibly shook from how terrified he had become.

From the corner of his eye he spotted B trying to keep his ground while being dangerously near the edge.

Lightning flashed a brilliant yellow as Neptune's eyes grew so wide that you could see the pink flesh hidden beneath the lids. Once the lightning had died away, it had only been a few seconds at best, but when he shifted his gaze over towards where B had once stood, he had vanished.

The only thing that had not been swallowed up by the hungry waves was the useless, hunk of metal that had once been the man's shield.

Immediately time seemed to freeze for Neptune as his deepest and most hidden memory rose to the surface.

…

 _There weren't many beaches along Mistral's eastern coast, and it was surprising to many that lived outside the kingdom that not too many even liked the beach._

 _The main reason was the possibility of aquatic-Grimm attacks and the large surplus of fish that liked to swim near the coast itself. Feeling the smooth scales of a fish up against your leg turned a lot of people off when it came to swimming at the beach._

 _Neptune never understood why people didn't like to fish, nor why most seemed afraid of the water. Personally he enjoyed the feeling of the cool liquid all along his body whenever his papa took him out on his fishing boat._

 _Today had started out as a partly cloudy day with the threat of rain, but that didn't stop the Vasilias from going out to catch dinner._

 _His papa was a part of the fish market industry, so he really had no choice when it came to weather conditions. When it came to putting food on the table, his papa would brave any storm if it meant that his family had food and lien to live their humble lives._

" _Looks like storms coming." His papa mumbled as darker clouds gathered further off in the distance. "But that won't stop us, eh son?" A twelve year old Neptune Vasilia looked up at his papa with a toothy smile as he reeled in yet another flounder._

 _Another thing about the fish that lived near Mistral's coast was that there seemed to be a large family of flounder fish. You couldn't get much for them at the market considering how common they were._

 _Of course there were other fish out there, but they were rare considering both the Grimm that scared them away, and the natural predators such as the Orcas. Neptune recalled hearing an old sailor's tale about the natural predators once._

 _It told a tale about how the King of the Orcas had killed a legendary aquatic Grimm known as the "Megalodon."_

 _No one believed the story of course as a Grimm "the size of an Atlesian battleship" had ever been recorded in history._

" _Should we haul in for today papa?" Neptune asked as he began to feel a little bored. He wanted to get back soon so he could go and hang out with his friends to watch this year's Vytal Festival._

" _Just one more hour?" His father looked down at him with the weakest puppy dog eyes Neptune's ever seen as he folded his arms in protest. "Please with a blueberry on top?"_

 _His father even began to_ quiver _his lower lip as Neptune failed to stifle a giggle of amusement. Sighing in mock annoyance he smiled up at his father before saying, "Fine. But_ just _one hour."_

 _Immediately the failed attempt at being cute dropped from his father's expression as he looked back at the ocean satisfied._

 _Neptune found himself doing the same as both sailors looked out towards the far off horizon as the young boy thought about the ocean. About the salty taste you got when you accidently swallowed sea water and about all the possible different fish that swam in the ocean in Mistral alone._

 _Those pleasant thoughts had been interrupted when the entire boat shook with a sudden force._

" _What the?" His papa sounded concerned as another force rammed into the side of the boat. This time it was more violent as some of the crates and supplies had been knocked over onto the deck._

 _Neptune tried catching the bucket of caught fish as they toppled over near the side of the boat. Flopping fish spilled everywhere as the young boy tried gathering them up to prevent them from going over the side._

 _A loud clap of thunder from the now closer storm caused him not to hear his papa's warning as the most violent impact from their unknown assailant rocked the underside of the vessel._

 _It had been enough to send the small child tumbling over the edge of the boat as his papa dove in without hesitation._

 _Both Neptune and his father were spitting up seawater as his papa asked between breaths, "Are you alright?!" The water stung his eyes and felt not as comfortable when he was still in his clothing as his papa hoisted him up along the side._

 _Neptune grasped at the railing of the sea vessel as he mustered up all his strength to pull himself up and over to the safety of the wooden deck._

 _Wasting no time he pulled himself up and looked back over the rails to see his father trying to scale up the side of the boat as well. He was still too far for Neptune to reach as he outstretched his hand towards his father in attempt to pull him up._

 _Seeing that he was still lacking a foot to his father's hand he went into the lower deck of the ship to find the longest pole that they had. His eyes eventually fell upon the harpoon that his papa always brought with him in case of an emergency._

 _It felt like a ton of bricks as it weighed down on him, but that didn't stop Neptune as he hurried back to the upper deck and to the railing that he had fallen over._

 _Seeing that his papa hadn't made that much headway when he had left him, Neptune angled the non-lethal end of the harpoon and lowered it down towards his father's awaiting hand._

 _He looked up for a second only to see a terrifying sight not but thirty yards away._

 _A tall, black fin had risen above the surface as its sleek surface shined when the water splashed against it. Neptune shouted at his papa to hurry as the black fin had shifted towards their direction._

' _A Grimm?!' It was his first thought as there seemed to be more of them in the ocean than any other natural predator. He continued to think so as the predator revealed more of itself to him as it broke more of the surface._

 _Two white circles covered when Neptune assumed the eyes would be, but then why were there no intricate red designs or glowing red eyes accustomed to Grimm?_

 _The story of the Orca King flashed through his mind as he shouted down to his papa, whom had just grasped the shaft of the weapon turned to regard him._

" _Papa! An Orca is coming towards us! An Orca is_ coming _!" The fear and panic were evident in his father's eyes as the black fin drew closer. Neptune pulled with all his might as they were actually making some progress as his papa's body was completely out of the water now._

 _Just another minute and his papa would be back up with him and they could leave. When Neptune looked up to see how close the Orca was, a wave of relief was over him as the black fin had disappeared from the surface._

" _Papa, it's gone. It's gone-" When he looked back down to his father there was nothing that could have described how scared he was at that moment. There, just below the surface and rising (as if in slow motion) lied the head of a large Orca whale._

 _It broke the surface and opened its gaping maw to reveal yellow teeth, pulsing muscles of gums and a black cavern that looked as though it could swallow up all of Remnant._

 _His papa only looked at his with pain in his eyes; along with something else that Neptune couldn't understand yet, as the jaws of death clamped down over his father's abdomen. His papa dragged down the harpoon with him as the Orca and he started their descent._

 _A flash of lightning from above blinded the young boy for only a moment, and once it cleared nothing remained but the raging waves of the ocean._

 _Neptune didn't know how long his had stood there in silence waiting for some sign,_ any _sign that his papa was still alive and come back to him. Time passed as Neptune waited without speaking as a sullen look appeared on his face._

 _Bringing up his legs and hugging his knees, the broken spirit of a young sailor fell on his side and cried for hours._

 _A single raindrop fell from the sky above and landed on the young boy who cried out for the scary ocean to give his papa back._

…

Neptune opened his eyes to find that he was in the fetal position in the center of the platform, but that wasn't what surprised him.

The storm had all but disappeared as not a single drop of rain could be seen coming from the dark grey clouds up above. He picked himself up and looked around expecting to see Amity, but was instead met with the endless horizon of a black sea all around him.

The water was clam as the only movement that could be seen was the calm push of water hitting the edges of the platform. The water had turned into an almost inky black color, but was only a few shades lighter to allow him to barely see into its depths.

Neptune's rational side of his brain tried getting him to remember that this was all but an illusion, and again had been outmatched by his fear. There, off in the distance, a tall triangular shaped fin broke the surface.

It was darker than the water could ever hope to be as the fin began circling the entirety of the platform. Which felt much smaller than Neptune recalled as the fin passed by him for the third time.

All of his fear for the ocean came flooding back into his heart as the fin continued to circle around him. It wasn't long until something began trying to breach the surface as well.

Neptune looked on in silent fear as a man emerged from the dark depths as he clung to the side of the platform for dear life. A rusted harpoon was clutched in the man's left hand as his right clung to the edge.

Neptune swallowed a sob as he saw his very _alive_ father.

"Pa?" His voice cracked and small as he felt both fear and extreme joy to see his father once more.

"Neptune? Is that you my boy?" A soggy beard that hadn't been there before clung to his father's face as he tried flinging it out of the way as he exclaimed, "Come here my boy! Help me up."

Joy was evident in his voice and Neptune even moved to walk closer to his papa when he noticed that the fin had disappeared from sight and the waters had gone completely still.

"I-I'm scared dad. I can't do it." Neptune looked away in shame as his father seemed to be having a harder time now without there being anything keeping him down except-

"Let go of the spear dad and pull yourself up!" His father sent him a grim smile as he shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Neptune. The beast won't allow me to let go unless you come over and help me." When he still didn't come closer his father grew desperate as he felt something tug at the bottom of his leg.

" _Please_ son! If you don't help me, then you'll never get over this absurd fear of the water." Neptune was still hesitant, and his father was beginning to lose his single grip on the edge. "Remember when you used to love the ocean Neptune? Don't you remember all the good memories you had when we used to go out on my boat? Don't tell me you forgot about all of that now?"

Neptune did in fact remember all the happier times he shared with his father while out on the ocean; along with all the good times he had with Sun and their other friends at the beach all those years ago.

Finally mustering up the courage to look past his fears, Neptune slowly made his way closer to his father. The man's eyes were filled with so much joy and relief by the time Neptune reached him.

Grabbing onto the harpoon and his father's free hand Neptune began to pull up, but was surprised at how heavy his father felt.

Pulling harder Neptune achieved in getting his father's waist above the surface along with something else.

He would have let go of both the harpoon and his father had it not been for the wet vines that snaked up and wrapped themselves around his left wrist. Beneath the surface right underneath them, Neptune saw what looked like two beady white eyes that glowed with an intense cold in their depths.

The rotten mouth of the Orca clung around the waist of his father with such force that Neptune was surprised the man hadn't been torn in half yet. From what he could see of its skin, there was rotten flesh and exposed muscles as the Orca's black blood flowed freely into the already dark water.

Along with the corpse like Orca's skin, black vines snaked themselves from within the gaps of its mouth as they climbed over his father and to Neptune.

When he tried letting go of his father's hand in his thrashing, the man's icy grasp tightened around his hand in a vice grip. It was so cold that Neptune couldn't repress the shiver as his father's body changed.

What was once a living, breathing man soon turned into what resembled a corpse. Pale wet flesh clung in lumps around his father's face as seaweed and black vines wrapped themselves across his body. Bloodless lips curled up into a cold smile as Neptune gazed into his father's single, white eye.

" **I love you son."** His voice became distorted to sound like that of a demon before he released his hand, but before he could get himself out of his shocked state, the icy palm rested against his back firmly.

Neptune couldn't do anything as the Orca pulled him and his father under into the black depths of the abyss. His silent screams couldn't be heard by anyone as water filled his lungs and dark circles swam at the corners of his eyes.

The last he saw was the white glowing eyes of both the Orca and his father as both looked up at him with bloody smiles.

…

Bursting through the entrance to the temple Sun ran as fast as his legs could carry him, but it was to no avail as he saw his friend falling. Sun flinched when Neptune's body hit the ground _hard_.

"Ouch. Looks like B has claimed yet another victim!" Port announced as Sun looked down at Neptune's unconscious form. Rushing over to his friend he confirmed that he was breathing as Sun looked over for any injuries.

He grimaced when he found a piece of Neptune's right arm sticking out from his shoulder. Along with a few nasty bruises and what looked like a sprained ankle his friend was unconscious.

' _But what did that guy do to make you scream like that?'_

He didn't have time to ponder on it for long as he was forced to roll to the side to avoid the plunge attack by B. The sword got lodged into the ground, but that didn't stop B from pulling it out with ease as he charged Sun.

The two traded blow after blow without either slowing down as they fought their way back towards the temple, but Sun knew what lay inside that B didn't. Jumping behind B, Sun beckoned his opponent forwards before dashing back into the temple.

Fortunately for him B followed without hesitation.

No traps were activated at the moment to his relief as Sun found the same position that he finished Tyrion at. Seeing that his opponent still was unconscious, Sun waved over to B before shouting out, "Hey you're an illusionist right? Does that mean that you can read my future through my palm or something?"

Sun ducked as B thrusted his sword right above his sandy colored hair. He gulped when he saw a few loose strands fall in front of his eyes.

"Heh… guess not?" He nervously concluded as he dodged more and more swipes until Sun had him right where he wanted him.

Without realizing it, both Sun and B had fallen into their own traps.

B's foot landed on a missed tile. The pressure activated the hidden knives to cut down the rope that held the iron-tipped arrow behind him. A loud whistling sound could be heard as the arrow soared through the air right towards B's heart.

A loud * **clang*** was heard throughout the hallway of the temple.

It would have been the end of not only him, but their entire operation had it not been for the ever faithful shield guarding his back. The iron rested right up against his back, and would have penetrated his back had the remaining metal of the shield hadn't slowed down its momentum.

While B had come out unscaved, Sun had not been so lucky.

The loud whistling from the arrow being shot drowned out the noise of the still conscious Tyrion staggering himself into a standing position. Almost like a drunk, Tyrion swayed on his feet while he pulled out his trump card.

The sound of the Jagged Ghost blade being pulled out from its hidden sheath too had been unheard by the Faunus as the loud twanging sound of the arrow hitting B's shield resounded in the hall.

It was only when Tyrion went to lunge at Sun did the Faunus become aware of the danger he was in.

Before he could stop Tyrion's attack with his own, Sun grunted in pain as the new blade pierced right through his Aura to his right thigh.

Pain flared up instantly once Tyrion's blade imbedded itself into the soft flesh. Shifting from a staff to its nun-chuck form Sun smacked the side of Tyrion's head with such force it nearly broke his neck.

The assassin fell to the ground dead, but no one except his remaining teammates knew that as Sun clutched his wound in pain.

"What are you laughing at?" Sun's voice came out harsh as he noticed that B had been laughing. Or at least putting up a poor imitation of the act. Upon noticing this, B pointed towards Sun's thigh before walking closer with sword in hand.

Sun briefly looked down only for his eyes to widen as there was no would so to speak of. By the time he realized that it had been some sort of trick played by the two of them, Sun tried standing up.

B's fist met Sun's with enough force to knock him on his back and slide a few inches along the ground.

A warm liquid trickled down his face as Sun felt his nose. When he removed his hand he saw blood before B's boot met Sun's face.

Over and over.

Sun was out cold by the sixth kick before B stopped before looking down at the ground. The fat one's voice could be heard within the temple's walls, but B wasn't concerned over the victory as his attention was brought to the ground.

A circular summoning sign was etched into the cobblestone of the temple. Three separate branches of an ancient language stemmed off from the main circle while a shard of the Dark Soul lay flat in the middle of the summoning sign.

B watched it fade into the ground before going to retrieve Tyrion's corpse.

…

Cinder Fall couldn't be happier at the moment.

Not only did her master plan grow one step closer to bearing the fruits of success, but she could almost _taste_ the Fall maiden's power.

Of course, none of this would be happening (at least this easily) if not for WTBL's latest victory. Watching that pathetic blue-haired wimp was just icing on the cake as she looked at the roster for the singles round.

Mercury would be facing off against that Xiao Long girl for the first match and he would lose to her. Cinder only knew that because she herself had ordered Mercury to throw the match no matter what, but also for another reason.

She knew that her underling had power, but when compared to Xiao Long he was a league below her. Even though the boy would never admit it, not even to himself.

Cinder chuckled silently to herself as Emerald looked up at the foreign sound.

"Something up ma'am?" She immediately went silent when Cinder's gaze fell on her, but she wasn't upset with the girl. Cinder's finger scrolled down to the final match between Nikos and Polendina whom she knew the secret behind.

She didn't even hesitate for a moment when she switched out Nikos's picture with B's.

"It's nothing for you to worry over dear Emerald. Only a slight change in plans."

* * *

 **Well that was an interesting one to write.**

 **Sorry for using the whole "Neptune is afraid of water again," but I just thought it would work best for the illusion and bringing Neptune's memory "up to the surface." ;)**

 **Only one more fight to go and then the real fireworks will begin. We're actually kind of getting to the end of the story here guys and gals. Don't fret though, as we still have the rest of Volume 3 and what was planned afterwards. Watching the RWBY Volume 4 trailer actually did kinda match with what I have planned for after V3 ends, but I'm going to try have it hold as little influence over the future of the story as best I can.**

 **I'll talk to you all next time.**

 **P.S.- To Guest: I unfortunately won't be putting in anything like the Frost from DS3. Also thank you for your review and you're welcome :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hollow again everyone! (Not sorry)**

 **I'm sorry that this chapter took awhile to upload as I had been up at my aunt's house for a week and dumb me forgot to bring the laptop that I wrote this story on! And yes, I did try a flash drive but it said the file was corrupted.**

 **Anyways, we've reached the finale of the one on one matchs of the Vytal Festival! Hazza! Well onto the story.**

* * *

 _ **Fall: Part I**_

This was it.

The final rounds between students hailing from all over the world was well under way. The crowds were ecstatic as tourists and fans cheered, booed, betted, and argued over who would be the champion.

She didn't concern herself with things such as glory or winning. All she cared for at the moment was fighting to one hundred percent of her combat skills. General Ironwood wasn't the only one she was trying to prove that she was ready.

Penny pondered if her father would be pleased with her even if she didn't win. Of course he would! He was kind and caring like that.

She tried removing any negative thoughts from her processor as she recalled learning from friend Weiss that such thoughts hindered ones' performance in combat.

"I'm combat ready." She reassured herself as she stepped out onto the platform of the arena.

Despite not having any muscles she felt the need to stretch out while her opponent stood across from her silently.

"Salutations! It is a pleasure to meet you." Using her usual greeting when meeting new people Penny didn't feel the strange atmosphere as B remained silent. Yang had called the feeling "awkwardness," but she has yet to log that into her database.

' _I should go and check up on Yang once the fight is finished. I'm sure she'll be pleased to see me once more!'_ Penny smiled as she recalled all the times she and Yang shared together. Making eye contact that day she accidentally bumped into Weiss. The time…

Actually, she didn't have many memories with Yang. She'll just have to fix that later.

B drew his sword from the brown leather sheath as Penny's swords all circled behind her in perfect union. The arena began rising up as it left both combatants with an even playing field as Oobleck announced for the fight to begin.

Penny wasted no time in moving her swords into position as they circled around her faster than a normal person could have been able to. B knew that this girl was special in some way if by how she handled her weapons was any indicator.

A dozen blades were sent straight at him as he tried dodging to his right. While he managed to evade the first few the others soon altered their path as they followed him.

Despite how many flips and rolls he pulled off to prevent being eviscerated, he thankfully felt no lightheadedness as Penny shifted the swords flight path once more.

Turning around in time to see the first one only a few feet away it took both sword and free hand to deflect and parry away her blades.

Instincts took over as he just barely avoided having a surprise sword skewer his liver as he clutched his side. Blood was evident as he hadn't been fast enough to completely dodge the blade, but that didn't matter as B made a mad dash towards Penny.

If he was to have any chance in beating this girl then he would have to put her into an illusion.

The ginger knew this as well since she had viewed all of her possible opponents' battles from the recordings taken by General Ironwood. Knowing what her opponent was trying to do Penny distanced herself while sending her swords to meet him.

B began panting as this girl was really pushing him to his limits as more wounds covered his body. Thankfully he managed to keep the blood loss to a minimum while he pulled out his last green blossom.

Quickly chewing it up and swallowing B immediately felt the benefits of the tiny green plant as his breathing became steadier.

Steel against steel ringed across the arena as both opponents clashed.

…

"M-Mercury?" Ruby was completely stunned to find Emerald's partner _here_ after he had been sent back home to be with his family due to injury. An injury that everyone blamed Yang for, but Ruby believed her sister when she pleaded her innocence.

The usually laid back teen remained silent as both he and Ruby starred down at one another. Neither said a word to the other even as a third member joined them.

Warhol appeared from within the same room Mercury had just a few moments ago as the large teen lifted his great hammer onto his shoulder while the other held his stone shield.

Crimson blood dripped down from the head of the hammer while a large blood stain painted the front of the shield.

"W-wh-what are y-you two…?" Ruby was getting a sick feeling in her stomach as a flashback to Tyrell's execution flashed in her mind when she looked at the blood. Mercury whispered something to Warhol that she couldn't hear, but the message was clear as the hulking teen pulled out-

Ruby's eyes widened as she lunged towards Warhol as he held a tiny version of the same portal thingy that Tyrell's executioner used to escape Beacon.

She didn't get far as Mercury made sure to block her with his should be broken leg.

Warhol placed the tiny thing onto the wall, and it grew larger until it was even larger than him. Before Ruby could try anything else Mercury stepped into her line of sight as Warhol slowly walked into the black and white portal.

Then it vanished without a trace. Just like before.

Now that he was gone Mercury didn't feel the need to hold himself back any longer.

"Showtime." The smug grin he held showed how confident he was. Ruby knew something was up as she could hear the muffled voices of both Port and Oobleck commentate on the fight between B and Penny.

One comment in particular had her worried as the muffled voice of Oobleck announced, "B better watch those cuts from Ms. Polendina if he wants to avoid fainting right here in the middle of the arena!"

She didn't know what they were planning, but judging by the blood staining Warhol's weapons Ruby Rose knew they were up to something sinister.

Not seeing any way past him, Ruby unleashed her semblance as she made a small red missile right towards Mercury in the hopes to blast past him.

It didn't go well as he was on point with his kick.

Ruby felt her abdomen meet the end of his boot before the side of her jaw got the same pleasure. Pushed back to right where she started Ruby quickly picked herself up as Mercury calmly stood ready for her next attempt at escape.

' _Wait! My Scroll!'_ She hadn't even thought about it as she quickly pulled the small the device from within her side belt. Just about to call her team, Ruby clutched at her wrist as a single round from Mercury's boot sent her Scroll across the floor.

The screen crackled and sparked a little before going black as Ruby looked back towards Mercury.

"How bout we just keep this between friends?"

…

It wasn't working.

He had fought through a literal cyclone of spinning blades to try and reach her, and he had too, but it wasn't working.

He had connected with her and… and…

Felt nothing.

When his fingers touched her forehead he felt soft, clean skin. But when he tried reaching out to her mind, he only felt a cold emptiness that couldn't be understood.

The soul that would allow him to view her deepest, darkest fears was there, but the mind in which to actually make her _see_ his illusions was barren. There was nothing that he could connect or work with as he felt something tight wrapping around his left arm.

It was Polendina's hand as she grabbed his wrist and tightened her grip.

A grunt escaped his lips as B tried attacking her with his sword hand before she could beat him.

The blade met only a few small inches away from her left eye as she didn't even blink or show any reaction. What felt like wires began wrapping themselves around his waist and he was soon lifted up into the air by seemingly nothing.

He struggled as the wires tightened as they drew him higher and higher until he was a good ten feet off the ground. None could see it, but blood began seeping onto the wires as they began cutting right into his flesh. His armor offered little resistance from these sharp strings as their constriction grew tighter.

Not noticing the blood, Penny smiled up at B before saying, "Thank you for a wonderful duel." It was then that Penny wanted to demonstrate a new move that Ruby called a "finisher."

She had no clue what it was when her friend mentioned it to her, but after researching it on the internet Penny had desperately wanted to try one out. Practicing whenever she had been alone, the synthetic girl was glad that B would be the first to experience it.

Connecting to her swords Penny willed them to slam her opponent down hard and fast without any concerns for his safety. His aura read that he was still in the yellow just bordering critical.

She felt a constriction in her wires as some force tried blocking them, but they soon pushed through as a loud, wet, snapping sounded in her ears. The smile, now an unsure one, looked down at her opponent as screams filled the crowd.

Gasps, screams, and tears were shared amongst the crowd as all of Remnant watched a young teenager get bisected by a sweet, innocent girl.

A wave of negative emotions stretched out for miles away from Amity as well as Vale as Grimm all the way up at Mountain Glenn turned their heads to the sudden spike.

This new feeling was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It felt… unsettling to put it lightly. She had felt instances of sadness and loneliness due to how she had to be brought up in Atlas, but never anything like this. So what exactly was it then?

Penny's confused smile soon turned to a look of devastation as she could only look at what she had just done to an innocent person. A person whom she never got to properly meet, someone who she might have one day called a friend. Someone who…

Was still alive.

…

It seemed that Remnant itself had stilled for a moment after the gruesome scene, but it soon continued on without its latest casualty.

And just like Remnant, the spell keeping the audience within Amity silent and still broke.

Hundreds of gasps, screams, and cries sounded from the thousands of attendants as they began panicking at the dead boy's chopped up corpse. Meanwhile back up in the announcers' stand Port was barking out orders to the technicians he had called up.

"Why aren't the cameras cut off yet?" His puffy mustache shook with the tension in his voice as the man shook his head as if he didn't know either.

"I don't know sir. We tried contacting the team d-downstairs, but they haven't been picking up." The unnerved technician dashed out of the way as the portly professor headed towards the door.

"I'm going to go see what's going on down there. You're coming with me." Port pointed one sausage like finger at the technician while said man stiffened at being addressed. "Bart, try to calm down the crowd before the negativity attracts any more Grimm than it already probably has."

Just as Port had one foot out the door Oobleck called out for him to come over.

"Peter… you're going to want to see this." His tone was grave enough to unnerve him as he limped over towards the chair he just left vacant.

"What is it?"

Oobleck could only point down back towards where the bloody scene had taken place before looking away. A single tear rolled down from the architect's eye before he had to force himself not to look at the suffering boy.

It only took Port a second to see _what_ exactly had caused his friend to shed tears for the unfortunate soul.

For it wasn't the fact that the boy still lived and was wailing so loud that he could be heard all the way from up here. Nor was it the fact that his insides were spilled out and onto the arena floor for all to see. How his cries of agony sounded strained, unnatural, almost animalistic in nature as he withered and twitched with great force.

None of those reasons were what caused Port to grow paler than a Grimm's mask.

For it was the simple face of Dove Bronzewing that made cold tears run down from his eyes and fall onto the console beneath his large frame.

The helmet that Dove had been wearing this entire time had been taken off by Dove himself in his struggles of pain for all to see his face.

He felt… he didn't know what to feel particularly at the moment for he was never close to Mr. Bronzewing nor any of his team. But to lose any student regardless was enough to make any professor mourn their loss.

"Peter. He's looking right at us." Oobleck informed him as Dove's head had turned to look _directly_ at them. Peter locked eyes with his should-be-dead student as, to the surprise of everyone, Dove smiled up at Peter.

It was more on the hysterical side as he began to chuckle.

Then he began to laugh, and as it continued on in the silence it matched his smile as tears began falling freely from his glowing white eyes.

The pain, constant struggles, and natural twitching of his body made both all the more sad to look at as all of Amity looked on in both fear and pity.

The tears were flowing freely now as Peter slammed his hand down hard onto the console. His aura protected it from getting too cut up from the broken glass as Oobleck tried to calm him down.

His friend's words were muffled out however, as Peter gripped at the sides of his head as the memory of _that_ day forced itself into his mind.

…

Peter stepped off the Bullhead with a loud thud as his feet touched soil once more. Breathing in the fresh air of the outside world, it filled his body with a newfound energy as he took in the surrounding area.

Four smaller thuds were heard behind him as the Beacon professor turned to address the team he had been assigned to: CRDL.

"Isn't it grand boys? Out here in the loving arms of Mother Nature with enough forest to go on for miles! What a beautiful day, birds are singing" Just then an entire flock of natural birds flew away from the loud human disrupting the peace. "Flowers are blooming" As they walked towards their destination, Port unconsciously stepped onto a blooming sunflower patch; crushing them.

"Why, youngsters like you should be…" A bee distracted him for a moment before he slapped it out of the air with an awesome backhand. The bugger never had a chance against his manliness. "Not slouching around."

Port shook his head with disappointment as all of team CRDL were slowly walking behind their (regretfully) assigned Huntsman while sweating up a storm.

Cardin looked like he would drown in his armor any minute now while both Sky and Russel fought over something about a girl, and Dove just looked grumpy about being here.

"Boys!" Immediately all attention was drawn to him as he fixed each of them with a glare and wriggle of his magnificent stache. "I expect discipline within my students. I want you all to be attentive to our surroundings at all times and to keep an eye out for one another. Got it?"

"We hear you professor." Russel sighed in what sounded annoyed, but Port let it go as they would be heading towards their destination. He had planned to tell them a time of his youth when he went on his own first mission, and how he beat the kill count of the Huntsman they had been assigned to, but that would have to come later.

After two hours of walking Cardin walked ahead of his team to walk besides Port as he had been the one voted to ask why they were here. Of course they had read the mission briefing, but it didn't exactly give the most insightful information of what they would be doing.

"Professor?" The portly man turned his thick neck so his head was facing the burly teen.

"Hmm? What is it lad?"

"What are we exactly doing here again?" When Port raised a single bushy brow at the question Cardin elaborated. "I mean what _exactly_ are we doing here? We read the briefing, but it didn't give us any real useful information that we could gather."

"Ahh wanting to know how hot the kettle is before pouring your coffee eh?" Cardin only gave a confused look in return, but Peter ignored it as the village was coming into sight.

"What exactly did the briefing say Mr. Winchester?" It wasn't so much a question but more a command as Cardin recalled the information.

"It read that a village a little far away from Patch had gone silent. The only reason Beacon knew about the possible danger it was in was due to them not checking in with their monthly broadcast to the kingdom. That's all that I can recall." Cardin seemed annoyed at something.

Most likely that he hadn't been sent more info before possibly walking into an ambush, or an infested Grimm nest. Port could respect that a little, but he was still disappointed that none of team CRDL seemed eager to help the village.

"While that is all well and true, I had been given a bit more information." Cardin mumbled something that Port didn't catch as he continued. "Not only has the village gone silent, but reports say that it had gone dark as well. In a strange fashion if what I heard is to be believed."

This seemed to interest Cardin, along with the others as they too came up to walk besides him.

"What do you mean by 'strange' professor?" It was Sky who asked as Russel too asked a question.

"And if there are survivors, then wouldn't they have tried to contact anyone through a signal fire or something?" Port sent Russel a small glare before responding.

"If none of you fell asleep in my class then you would have known that Grimm are not only attracted to our negative emotions, but any signal they would try to get out would most likely be noticed. Of course, there is the communications beacon that each village holds as long as they are within Vale's boundaries, but that too might have been difficult to get to if their silence was caused by Grimm."

Russel looked down with a sour expression on his face as Port turned to answer Sky.

"By strange my boy, I mean that there weren't any tracks that a Huntsman from Patch could find. No Grimm tracks, nor any signs of people from fleeing away from or into the village." A quizzical look took his features as Sky went into thought over this new information.

Cardin asked, "If there aren't any tracks, then how does an entire village go silent?"

"And that's where we come in! We're here to find out why this village's silence is considered strange. I have a theory that it was some new form of Grimm that can burrow beneath the ground and snatch people right from beneath their feet!" The excitement in his voice unnerved the whole of CRDL as they went back to keeping a fair distance away from him.

"Wouldn't that leave tracks though?" Dove whispered over to Russel, but all he got was a confused shrug.

They arrived at the gates of the village with the sun just now starting to lower itself into the opposite horizon.

It was unnervingly quiet.

"Look. Up there." Dove pointed out as they came upon the slightly ajar gates of the village. The rest of them turned their heads to follow Dove's finger to the dried blood that coated two distinct portions of the walkway above the gate.

"The hell?" Cardin raised a peculiar brow as he looked up at the blood.

They all stood there in silence as seconds ticked by with no one moving.

"Uhhh. We gonna move in or what? Feet are getting tired here." Russel bitched (as usual) as Cardin sent him a glare to shut him up.

"Should we move into the village Professor?" Cardin too was a little confused as to why he hadn't ordered them to move in yet, but it was Port; who was most likely lost in his own past about his youth.

"You're the one in charge here Mr. Winchester. I am but a simple helper to guide you along the way. But, seeing that you failed to notice this, I advise you to question the dried blood above us." Cardin frowned at the older man, but didn't retort knowing his big mouth would land him in trouble later.

"Alright then. Russel." The teen in question half-heartily turned around with a small scowl aimed at him.

"What?"

"Go inspect the areas with blood and take a look over the wall. Let us know if there are any Grimm that you see so we don't end up walking into death." He was assertive whenever he talked to any of them. Otherwise none of them would get work done nor would they listen to him.

It became very frustrating at times to get them to listen to him, and even harder after Arc had saved him from that Ursa back in the Falls.

Ever since that day something inside him had changed. Whether it was good or bad has yet to be seen to him.

While he pretty much quit bullying, with only the occasional choice words throw around now and then, he had pretty much stopped. Of course, he was never acknowledged by the student body or by any of team RWBY or JNPR, but that's not what got to him.

His team was the problem here.

Ever since he stopped bullying they had lost any sense of respect (or perhaps fear) they had for him. Over the last few months it became increasingly difficult to get them to listen to him, and only when he threatened them with violence did they move.

Lost in his thoughts until Sky nudged him with his elbow, Cardin looked up to see Russel trying to get their attention.

"Find anything Russ?" Cardin called up to his partner.

"Finally got through that thick skull huh? Look, nothing up here except dried up blood and a blood tipped spear." He sounded uninterested which made Cardin's anger flare a little.

' _Could he take this mission seriously for just_ one _moment?'_

"And the rest of the village? How does it look?" Russel was on his way down and he didn't receive an answer until he was back with the others.

"Deserted. No Grimm to be spotted. Just like the reports said they were." Uneasiness coated his words, but other than that he was still the usual lazy asshole.

"What was that about a spear you said?" Dove brought it up.

"It had dried blood on it, and something else that I couldn't really identify. A little translucent and pale, but I didn't take a closer look."

"Most likely the weapon used to kill whoever was on guard when this tragedy occurred." Port added in his own two cents as both Sky and Dove nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. Let's head inside and see what we can find." Cardin ordered them all as both he and Port opened the doors wide enough to allow them access.

It was getting late in the day and they had come up with nothing.

Not a single trace could be found of the villagers or whatever caused this in the first place. The sun had nearly set, so Cardin thought it best to call it quits for the day as they wouldn't any better chances while searching in the dark.

Sky made a short joke regarding Faunus and Cardin punched him for it.

While he still despised the Faunus, he didn't want anyone from his team to fall back into the bullying that had made them public enemy number one. Even small "harmless" jokes like those could ignite the spark once more.

While both Port and Dove were setting up the fire inside their temporary shelter, the second floor of an average sized house, the rest were "deciding" on who had to take first watch.

"And I told _you_ that I need to rest! I was up walking all day since five in the fucking morning!" Russel shouted a little too loud as Cardin covered his mouth quickly.

After a few minutes had passed and nothing had attacked them, Cardin released his hand from Russel's mouth.

"Are you trying to get us killed!?" Cardin harshly whispered to his idiotic partner while Sky snickered behind him.

Taking a deep sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose Cardin said, "Look, we've all been up for a while today and we all need rest. We're all a little bit more irritated (than normal) and that's why Russel's taking first watch."

"The hell I'm not."

"You are because first, that's an order from your leader. And second, you've pissed me off quite enough for one day. This is will be your punishment for tonight."

"Oh, now he gives out punishments. Okay _dad_. I'll play nice now." Russel smirked when he saw the vein appear on the side of Cardin's neck, but lost it when he didn't fire back.

"Just do the goddamn watch." With that both he and Sky retreated further into the warm building while Russel was left out in the cold.

Leaning up against the railing of the balcony he was on, Russel silently looked over the ghost town.

Time passed by without him knowing as he slowly dozed off into sleep.

It was when his eyes fully closed did he feel a clawed paw grab his face and pull him over the railings.

Back inside the house Port and the rest of CRDL sat around their small fire as the official Huntsman just finished up yet another story from his past.

"Well I think I'm going to turn in for tonight. What about you guys?" Sky asked while receiving silent nods from both Cardin and Dove. But just before they could get to their cots that they had packed, Port opened his mouth once again.

Much to their dismay.

"Hold on a minute boys. The night is still young, and I want to tell you all one last story. One that may benefit you all as a team. Cardin, could you please go and fetch Russel?" The burly teen grunted as he rose once more from the comfortable floor to go grab his partner.

He came back alone and an annoyed look on his face.

"Lazy jerk must've snuck off. Probably to go and find a bed somewhere." Port nodded, but made a note to go and look for Mr. Thrush after his tale was complete.

Once everyone present was as comfortable as they could get, Port began his tale.

"I'll be honest with you boys. Your behavior at Beacon at the beginning of the year had not gone unnoticed by the teachers. There had been many occasions where I wanted to jump right in and teach you boys some respect." Both Cardin and Dove looked down at the ground, and for a moment the shadows cast by the flame darkened their eyes.

Sky crossed his arms and mumbled something the aging professor couldn't quite catch. "Back when I was you lads' age and I myself attended Beacon, I was on a team much similar to yours."

This really wasn't much of a surprise to them as they knew little to nothing about Port as they were either sleeping through his class or just didn't care.

"My team leader was much like you Dove." At the mention of his name, the somewhat chubby teen looked back at him. "He was quiet, reserved most of the time. However, he did little to stop his partner from bullying other students for either how weak they were when compared to himself, or-"

"For their Faunus heritage, right?" It was Cardin whom had interrupted as Port nodded his head.

Cardin's fists curled up into a fist at the mention of Faunus, but he remained silent as Port continued.

"Indeed Mr. Winchester. Our leader did nothing to stop the harassing, and he even sometimes joined in on it with his partner. As I'm sure you can guess our team became fairly infamous for both our leader and his partner's actions towards others. We became outcasts much like you boys, but not all of us were bad."

None of them said anything as they all found somewhere else to be looking to. Each member knew of their team's isolation from the other students due to their (mainly Cardin's) bullying.

"My own partner and I tried redeeming our team's name, and after months of attempting to clean up their mistakes: we were successful." Port took on a grave look as he gazed into the tiny flames of the small fire.

Wisps of orange, red, and yellow were birthed into the world to live such short lives before being swallowed up by the night. New ones would be birthed as old ones faded away into embers.

Thus the cycle continued.

"A young man by the name Jerald Pennsworth was an elk Faunus with antlers growing atop his head. He was a good lad to anyone he met and could always make you laugh no matter how terrible the joke was." A tiny, faint smile formed. Only detectable by the small upturns of his mustache.

Like the wisps of flame it faded as soon as it had appeared.

"When my partner and I talked to him we succeeded in setting up a meeting between Jerald and our team's resident bully. I only wish that we had failed that day." Port had gone silent for a few moments until Dove reached out to him and gently shook his shoulder.

Port looked up sadly at Dove, then both Cardin and Sky before he brought his tale to a close.

"When both had been left alone in a room together, we hadn't thought about what our teammate might have done to Jerald. When we heard the sounds of fighting we tried to break the door down, but our leader was preventing us from proceeding by blocking the doorway."

"By the time we had finished knocking out our leader and breaking the door in it was too late. There, standing over an unconscious Jerald, was our teammate. He had a look of pure anger in his eye as he clutched a bloodied antler in one hand. The other had been impaled in Jerald's right eye."

Dove made no noise as he gasped upon hearing this. Cardin and Sky grimaced as well as neither would ever think that they could take it that far.

"By the time the staff had arrived, both my partner and I had exacted our own withheld anger towards our teammate. That day our team had been split apart and only my partner and I managed to stay in Beacon, and that image of Jerald will follow me to my grave."

A heavy atmosphere had settled onto the group as each remained quiet as Port stood up from his seated position. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go and find Mr. Thrush. Night lads."

Port was just about to exit the room to go looking for Russel when Dove's voice was heard from within the darkness of the room.

"Did he live professor?"

"… No."

Later that night Port burst into where the rest of CRDL had been fast asleep while Sky was currently on watch. The blue haired teen gasped when he saw Port rush past him with an injured Russel in tow.

"Wake up! All of you!" Port bellowed as both Cardin and Sky both visibly jumped. They were soon awake as Port gently set Russel down onto a cot before turning to the rest of them. "Dove attend to Russel immediately and dress his wounds. Cardin, Sky, I need the both of you to grab your weapons and come with me _now_."

Hearing the calm, but urging in his voice neither questioned the beaten up professor as he grabbed his Musket Battleaxe.

Turning back to Dove he said, "Once you have patched up Mr. Thrush's wounds I need you to contact Beacon and call in an emergency Bullhead. Make sure to mention that we'll need reinforcements as well."

Nodding Dove immediately got to work on Russel as best he could; as well as trying not to cringe when he saw the bone protruding from his knee. If it was Grimm then Dove hadn't need to worry as the room they were in had no windows for Grimm to crawl through.

The rest of them were on the bottom floor before they began setting up defenses. Port and Cardin moved furniture and anything heavy up against the windows and doors.

Sky checked the other entrances and thankfully the backdoor was locked as he moved as much furniture up against it as he could alone.

"Cardin, I need you to guard the front door while Sky you head to the back. Make sure nothing gets in, and if it does then slay it for the prey that it is! Our fallback is upstairs in which I'll guard them while you two get both your teammates to safety up on the roof." Both boys nodded and Port was proud to see the steel determination in both of their eyes.

"What exactly are we up against that would need an emergency pickup professor?" Cardin asked with an even tone, but underneath he was frightened.

"A horde. And it's being lead by an Elder Grimm." That caused the color in both their faces to drain as they were stunned silent.

Elder Grimm were some of the most ancient of Grimm to have walked Remnant, and live throughout thousands of years. Only two have been recorded in mankind's history, but they were reportedly slain nearly three hundred years ago!

Legend had it that these Grimm could command thousands of Grimm at a time, and not only their own respective kin, but other species as well.

Port had only caught a glimpse of the ancient beast, but from what he saw made him question his eyes. This Grimm was indeed an albino (as the other recorded Elders had been), but this one had strange red-tipped quills growing from its back and no glowing red could be seen within its eyes.

' _Is that how they look, or are all Elder Grimm unique in their own way?'_ He thought as howls, screeches, and roars could be heard just outside their hastily built barricade.

"Prepare yourselves boys." Scratches, bangs, and muffled cries of pain were heard outside as Port reloaded his musket. "For tonight you become true Hunters!"

Port could barely open his eyes before being blinded by lights. Too many lights.

Cool night air blew over him, that much he could tell as he felt hands grabbing and securing him before he was drawn closer to the light.

' _Reinforcements.'_ He thought as he was loaded onto the Bullhead, but when he didn't spot any member of CRDL onboard he frantically began searching for them. Whoever was trying to hold him down failed doing so as he struggled to turn back to see what had happened.

What he looked down upon made him both proud and heartbroken, but more so the latter.

Down below all of team CRDL could be seen fighting for their very lives, as well as their professor's as they took down any Grimm that came at them. When he tried to break free of the bonds to get back down there and aid them, he felt a cold needle stabbed into his arm.

Things began to dim for him, but that didn't stop his struggle as he cried out to let him fight. Adrenaline was still coursing threw him as a mask was placed over his mouth to administer more sedatives to his thrashing body.

The last thing he recalled seeing before the doors shut and the sedatives kicked in was a single, albino Beowolf cutting down four young boys one by one. Then a sea of black rushed over the four dead teens as the Grimm overran the roof of the house.

The single white Beowolf stood out amongst its horde as it looked up at the retreating Bullheads.

 _Back at Beacon, he was asked a question he was sure he knew the answer to._

" _Did they live Peter?"_

"… _No."_

…

Both Dove's struggles and hysterical laughter soon slowed down as the horrified audience and stunned Penny watched on as the last whispers of life left his body. It was then that every electrical device from Scrolls to TVs broadcasting the bloody scene was taken over by Cinder's virus.

Low murmurs of confusion and fear were heard amongst the crowds of observers as no one knew what was going on. Sounds of a mic being tapped into sounded throughout Amity as the sultry voice of Cinder Fall filled its walls.

"This is _not_ a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your _safety_ , and your children to those who claim to be our guardians." Members of both team RWBY and JNPR could only stare on in complete surprise and shock at the butchered corpse of Dove Bronzewing.

Whom they, along with everyone else at Beacon, had thought to be dead along with the rest of his team after their first mission had gone sour.

Nora had buried her face into Ren's chest when Dove had struggled despite being torn apart. Her childhood friend tried his best to sooth and comfort her as he focused on the dead teen's hysterical smile that had now frozen his face.

Pyrrha looked away with a few tears in her eyes while Jaune felt like he was going to be sick.

Both Weiss and Blake grimaced at how he had been executed by Penny, but Blake's had been somewhat lessened from her time with the White Fang. It didn't make it any easier to keep looking at however as Cinder continued her speech.

"But they aren't. When in reality they are nothing more than men. Our academies Headmasters hold more power than most armies all across Remnant. One was audacious enough to control both. They all cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here?"

In the crowds General Ironwood stood up from his seat and marched off to figure out what the hell was going on with the broadcasting crew.

However both he and the rest of Amity were drawn to the blood curdling scream that came from one of the entrances to the back areas. There, Warhol could be seen charging at full force towards the still stunned Penny with his weapon grasped firmly in two hands.

The stage began to lower itself down despite controls best attempt to stop its descent as it was level with the rest of the stage just as Warhol arrived.

By some miracle Penny managed to get herself out of her stunned state as she tore her eyes away from the person she had just killed.

Warhol was only a few yards away, and it was enough to get a few of her swords up into the air. Sending them straight at him didn't prove efficient at all as most bounced off his armor or just imbedded themselves into the stone without piercing his flesh.

The pain was minor to him and Penny was having trouble removing the swords that seemed to be stuck in his rock-like armor. Another new feeling filled her very being as Warhol was now only a foot away.

Her weapons proving inefficient and all these new feeling at once caused one more to appear, one that others would describe using either fear or dread.

She felt both.

The Dragon tooth slammed into the synthetic girl's side faster than anyone could have thought possible. Penny buckled from the blow alone, but still managed to stand as now a deep dent could clearly be seen on her left.

Warhol didn't allow her to recover as he brought the gigantic tooth above his head in an over swing that met Penny's chest. The full force and weight behind the blow further dented her frame as sharp metallic pieces could be seen poking through her combat attire.

Sparks flew from the damage as she tried anything to get this man off of her as his enormous form filled her vision. Warhol was lifting his weapon behind his back as his arms bent backwards to keep a hold on the heavy tooth.

Aiming right for her head, Warhol brought down the great hammer.

The fearful look in Penny's eyes was the last thing he saw before the largest part of the Dragon's tooth obliterated her entire head. A small explosion sounded beneath the tooth, but Warhol paid it no mind as he stepped off of Penny's broken frame.

Again, silence filled the stadium as everyone watching tried processing what exactly just happened.

Some were thinking on how another death had occurred while others were more interested in the fact that the sweet looking girl was actually a robot.

It was at this that Cinder resumed, "One nation's attempts at a synthetic army? One that claimed the life of an innocent. And now it lay wasted at the hands of one of Beacon's own." It was then that Warhol took off his stone helmet to reveal the pale, sunken-in face of Cardin Winchester.

None were more shocked than both Jaune Arc and Peter Port.

"What need would Atlas have to for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't believe the Grimm can tell the difference. And what of Ozpin? What is he teaching his student's at Beacon I ask?"

Up in Beacon's clock tower Ozpin uneasily looked back to the passing by Atlas Bullheads as Cinder went on.

"First he loses his students for them to only turn up at the tournament under false names? And now this savagery? Oh, and let's not forget about breaking others' legs now." Back at Beacon in her dorm, Yang clenched her fists upon hearing the false information brought back.

"Perhaps Ozpin thought he could best Atlas in the tournament to make the citizens forget about his _colossal_ failure to protect the city of Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets."

"Although, this could have also been his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly? I've not have the slightest clue as to who is right and wrong, but I know the existence of peace is fragile."

"The leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral I can assure you that the situation there is… equally undesirable. Our kingdoms are at the brink of war yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you, when the first shots are fired…"

Down below Cardin could be seen etching something into the ground before extending his hand out to where he had drawn a strange rune of sorts.

"Who do you think you can trust?"

The screens were taken over by a blank static as the connection was cut. Cinder Fall smirked as all that was left to do was to watch the fireworks.

Back inside the stadium screams could already be heard as the gigantic rune began expanding before it covered up the entire arena floor with Cardin at its center. People tried getting away from the slowly expanding circle as the ancient writing soon lit aflame with a black fire.

A black flame that those from Beacon soon recognized.

Cardin stood in the middle of it all with his arms stretched out as if he were greeting an old friend. Black fire began to surround him until it formed a perfect circle around his feet.

Sirens were going off and an automated voice warned of a high level Grimm attack incoming, and the mad panic of people rushing to the exits didn't help as all the panic and fear would attract more Grimm.

While citizens and students fled the scene, some trying to escape while others tried to retrieve their weapons, a mournful Ruby watched on.

An entire pillar of the black and white flame erupted right underneath Cardin as the teen began to laugh just as hysterically as Dove had. It was an odd mixture of both screaming and crazed laughter as Cardin was burnt alive. Both fear and sadness gripped her heart when the strange noise just became screaming, and then even that stopped.

The pillar reached as high as Amity's force fielded dome before it stopped rising. At the tip of the pillar a sphere began to form until it was big enough to engulf a giant Nevermore.

A strange diamond slowly snaked its way down from behind the dark orb until it was positioned directly above the arena floor. It reminded her of a reptile's eye as a voice came through the dark orb.

A voice that filled her entire being with anger and hatred.

The voice of Abell uttered a single, condemning word that had Ruby running back into the entrance to grab Crescent Rose and find her team.

" **Fall."**

…

 _ **Before the Fall…**_

Deep down within the confines of Beacon, an intriguing Huntress in training had just learned about what she believed to be her destiny.

Pyrrha Nikos placed her hand up against the cold glass that separated Amber from the rest of the world. "Why keep all this secret?" She was confused as all this new information was still hard to process, and the hundreds of questions swimming around in her head didn't help her case either.

Turning to face them all Pyrrha needed to know the answer.

"I-if this girl is so important, and if we are truly on the brink of war… why not tell everyone?" It was Ms. Goodwitch that spoke up as she took a step towards her.

"From what history has told us this used to be common knowledge."

"Excuse me?"

Qrow took a step forward now as he spoke, "How do you think legends and fairytales get started? Even the craziest ones come from somewhere." Pulling out his silver and brown flask Qrow enjoyed the burning sensation of the alcohol as he downed it.

"Our group was formed to help protect both mankind and the Maidens. Those wanting the power themselves hunted them down in hopes to inherit the Maidens' strength." Glynda filled in as Qrow finished his drink.

"And as you can imagine, the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the kind of people that you'd want to have _unimaginable power_." Qrow said.

"Thus the brotherhood decided to remove the Maidens from the public eye long enough for their existence to fade away into legend." Ironwood looked down at the confused eyes of the Fall Maiden candidate with some pity as the girl wasn't even twenty yet and she already had to make perhaps the hardest decision of her life.

"Everything we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history, religion-" Glynda was cut off by Ironwood.

"No one would want to believe us and-" Ironwood was interrupted by Ozpin.

"It would cause massive panic. And we all know what _that_ would bring clawing to our kingdoms walls. This is why we would like to-"

"I'll do it." There was no hesitation in her voice as Pyrrha had made up her mind to accept the Fall Maiden's fractured power as her own. Ozpin's gaze softened when he looked at perhaps one of the most prominent students that he has ever had the pleasure to guide.

"If you believe this will help humanity… then I will become your Fall Maiden."

An uneasy silence along with worried looks was shared between the adults as Pyrrha's earlier confusion returned. "That _is_ what you wanted isn't it?"

"It is, but I'm afraid it's not that simple." Ozpin took a few steps closer as he explained further. "Given her condition you wouldn't be able to inherit her power naturally. However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution to this." At the mention of his name Ironwood stepped forward.

"For the last few years Atlas has been studying aura on a more scientific angle. How it works. What it's made of. How it can be used. We've made, significant strides, and we believe we've found a way to capture it."

"Capture it and cram it into something else." Qrow tacked on at the end. "Or in your case…"

It took Pyrrha a moment to realize what he meant before she turned to Ironwood, "That's-"

"Classified."

" _Wrong_." Glynda sent a sideways glance towards Ironwood while crossing her arms. "The feeling is mutual. But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"And these are indeed desperate times." His mind flashed back to the day when that 'Lord' had so easily breached Vale and gotten into Beacon. Removing the thought he continued, "We can't transfer Amber's power to you, but we can give you what those powers are bound to."

"Her aura." It didn't take a genius to figure that one out. Nodding his head Ironwood looked back towards the sleeping girl in silence.

"Her life would become intertwined with yours. The question that remains though…" Ozpin looked right into Pyrrha's emerald orbs as Qrow asked the unknown.

"What's that gonna do to you?"

"Please, this is an important decision Ms. Nikos. Take your time when thinking about your answer, but know that we will need an answer before the end of the Vytal Festival." Silence followed afterwards as Pyrrha turned back to look at Amber.

Minutes ticked by as Ironwood approached the girl before placing a hand on her shoulder.

"A new threat has emerged. One that could not only endanger Vale, but we believe the entire world."

"James!" Glynda face showed that she was upset with him giving her that information. "She already has _enough_ to worry about with this decision alone!"

"It's best she knows everything that rides on her decision if she is ready to inherit this kind if power Glynda." Just as she was about to make a comment Ozpin held up a hand to silence her.

"Threat?" Was there something truly that serious that could cause such concern? Was it a new species of Grimm perhaps?

"It's best if you see for yourself Ms. Nikos." Ozpin led them all back to a separate hallway that veered off from the main corridor. Another device, one similar to the one that contained Amber but on a much smaller scale was at the end of the room.

Her eyes widened when she saw what withered and lashed out within the container.

A small black and white flame thrashed about within the confines of its cell as they approached. She couldn't explain it, but just getting close to it made her head feel light as they stopped a few feet away from it.

"I-I don't understand. Professor?" Looking to Ms. Goodwitch for an explanation the combat instructor sighed as she glanced over to the side.

"Do you remember Sir Tyrell, Ms. Nikos?"

"Of course!" How could she have forgotten? He had spent a considerable amount of time with both her team and team RWBY during his short time at Beacon. She also remembered how strange he had been acting after the Breach, and how he had injured others in his attempts to escape the infirmary.

And how he had been executed by whom she assumed was his leader.

"Well… we have reason to believe that his behavior both during and after the Breach was caused by this _flame_. We also believe that his 'lord' holds control over it."

"Come on. I'm starting to get a headache just by looking at the damn thing." Qrow complained as Ozpin and Ironwood nodded their agreement.

Pyrrha turned back to look into the black depths of the flame as it continued to thrash and try to break out of its prison.

* * *

 **By the sun! This story has received so much love and attention that you all deserve a Sunlight medal. Seriously, thank you all for the support and kindness that you have shown me throughout this journey so far.**

 **The end of Volume 3 is ahead and oh is there going to be a showdown coming up! I'll have to go back to watch some episodes to get a better grasp at one of the contender's powers, but that shouldn't be that bad. Also, I've uploaded a new story not too long ago that is RWBYverse based only, but doesn't concentrate on any of the main (or even side) cast.**

 **I hope you guys and gals will go give it a read if you haven't already.**

 **Have a good day everyone and I'll talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	24. Chapter 24

_**Fall: Part II**_

 ***Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly fashion.***

The automated message from Amity's security system went unheard by the panicking populous as thousands fled for the awaiting transports. Fear spread throughout the panicking citizens of Vale like wildfire as more and more Grimm were being drawn to the negative emotion.

It was a living nightmare for unarmed citizens as those outside the coliseum would come face to face with wild Grimm. The White Fang were releasing Grimm all over Vale and killing those that the wild beasts missed. Reports told of armored black soldiers marching through the streets as well as giants made from rock and ash tearing through buildings and people.

The body count was rising at a fast pace.

Hunters, both professional and student, were scrambling all over the kingdom to try and save as many lives as they could while Atlas soldiers tried keeping back both the Fang and unknown enemy.

Ironwood sent orders to both the robots and soldiers stationed at both Beacon and Amity to get the situation under control.

At the announcer's mic trying to calm the fleeing citizens, James couldn't think that things could become any more difficult than they were now.

A large force impacted the domed energy field as Ironwood, along with Port and Oobleck, looked up to see a giant Nevermore had perched itself right above where the large black sphere was. Only visible by the edges of its wings along with its deafening screech, the Nevermore began attacking the shield barrier.

"A Nevermore?!" An astonished Oobleck questioned as he stood up from his chair suddenly. "How could it have gotten past the kingdom's defenses?!"

Ironwood didn't answer the man as he immediately called Ozpin on his Scroll.

"Ozpin. The girl I can-" He was silenced by the serious tone that his old friend put on. One that he had only heard once before back on the day that village burned.

"You brought your army to my kingdom James. _Use it_." He didn't have to be told twice as both men hung up. Narrowing his eyes upon the black sphere James made for the exit.

"Get my ship prepped for flight now."

Behind him both Port and Oobleck looked out towards the floating object as it began to pulse.

From the Bullheads hovering far above Vale giant Nevermores could be seen flying by as the majority headed closer to Vale while a few stragglers remained to attack the warships.

First Sergeant Apollo was currently overseeing the bridge as soldiers and pilots left and right ran around from one console to another. The situation was grim, much like his expression as he turned around to overlook a map of Vale.

Quadrants two and six have been hit hard by the attack while both three and four are starting to get attacked by the Grimm. Quadrant five has remained almost untouched so far as it was in the middle of Vale, but it wouldn't stay like that forever.

"Dammit." Apollo brought a finger up to his earpiece to contact the other warships. "This is Blue four. Blues two and three fall into defensive position."

"Roger! Blue three is in position sir." A female pilot responded from her end while only silence remained from Blue two.

"Blue two what is your status. Blue two respond! Someone answer me goddammit!" Apollo received no response as he cut the connection before making his next orders to his crew.

Heading over towards the window he looked over at Blue two in question as no Grimm could be seen attacking the ship. No damage to the bridge could be seen as far as he could tell. So why-?

Apollo's eyes widened in horror as Blue two began turning itself around until they were facing directly at both his ship and Blue three!

"Get-" Apollo never got to finish that order as high impact lasers cut right through the bridge and engines. Fire engulfed the entirety of the bridge leaving no survivors while few engineers survived the left side engines exploding.

Without anyone to pilot the ship and with half the engines down, Blue four veered off course before crashing into the unaware Blue three.

Both ships slowly plummeted towards the cruel earth far below as Blue two positioned itself back on course.

"Wooohohohaha! Oh it is _good_ to be back baby." Infamous criminal Roman Torchwick laughed as he looked down at the bright and colorful buttons. With each one with their own function Roman was like a kid in a candy store as he wanted to press all the buttons.

About to press down on a promising looking yellow one, he stopped himself when he heard something fly by the bridge window.

Sauntering his way over towards said window Roman looked out with a questioning look on his face before turning to Neo. A smug grin replaced the confused look soon enough as he jerked his thumb back behind him.

"Now _that's_ something you don't see every day."

Surrounding the last remaining Bullhead were hundreds of Gryphons as they flew towards both Beacon and Amity. Of course, that wasn't what brought a cruel smile to both criminal's faces however.

Strapped to each Griffon was riding gear.

Similar to the kind used on horses, but modified to some degree to fit both the Gryphon and its riders. Men and women in black leather clothing as well as armor rode atop each Gryphon with two on each beast.

One would hold the straps that guided the Griffon while the second sat behind them while securing a large brown leather sack. Roman could also spot a fairly large looking metal bow strapped to each rider that rode in the back along with a quiver of what looked like long, metal spears.

It did unnerve him a tiny bit when he saw the glowing white eyes of both rider and Grimm shine in the cover of night.

…

Everything was going to hell.

"Yah!" Smashing yet another one of the freaks in armor hard enough to leave a sizeable dent Yang kept on the move. Once that woman had finished with her speech Yang wasted no time in getting to her weapons.

It was good timing too as the entire school seemed to be under attack!

Trying to make her way to the CCT to get a stronger signal out to her team to warm them of what was happening at Beacon; Yang was running into all sorts of trouble.

Grimm, the White Fang, and even these new players who she had no doubt in her mind worked for that joker that killed Tyrell. Her fist rammed into another one of the Black Knight's shields as it tried blocking off her assault, but his guard was broke a moment later under the pressure.

Disoriented for a moment Yang took the opportunity to knee the knight in his abdomen causing him to spit out saliva. She then grabbed a hold of his right arm before twisting around with him still in hand.

The momentum she gathered allowed her to throw the knight into two approaching knights unlucky enough to have come around the corner.

She didn't waste time to finish them off as she had to make sure she reached the CCT before anything happened to it.

She had to make sure Ruby and the others were safe above all else. Bursting through two large wooden doors that lead into the auditorium Yang witnessed nearly twenty heads, both man and beast, turn to regard her.

Smirking to herself, the blonde brawler of team RWBY cracked her knuckles and neck before charging into the enemy head on.

…

Back at Amity things weren't looking good for the fleeing civilians nor the Hunters and soldiers that valiantly stood against the rushing tide of panic.

People were crowding onto the transport Bullheads in waves, while leaving barely enough room that a few were being crushed. The White Fang had released wild Grimm onto the scene that kept the soldiers busy while all the Huntsman-in-training gathered within the arena floor.

Ruby had arrived to meet with the others as things began falling apart.

She spotted Pyrrha and the rest of JNPR looking onwards at the three bodies of what used to be a friend and fellow students. She felt their own sadness too, but now wasn't the time to think about the fallen.

Innocents were still in danger and they needed to formulate a plan to deal with the Grimm attacking the kingdom.

"Uhh guys?" Sun spoke up next to a somewhat distant, and if only slightly alert, Neptune. Ruby had heard what had happened between him and B- Dove.

It really shook him to the core, and normally she would try and comfort her friend, but what Sun was pointing up at was more concerning at the moment.

The black orb began to pulse violently as its 'eye' began to turn a stark white. It also seemed to be giving off some dark aura as well as a black haze began to cover the stadium dome.

"What's it doing?" Jaune's question went unanswered as the eye had turned completely white. It pulsed once more before going still.

Eyes widening in surprise Ruby called for everyone to get down as the dark orb's explosion shattered the force barrier. When she looked back up Ruby was met with the dark shadow of the descending Nevermore right above her.

It landed with so much force it knocked Ruby off her feet as the harsh wind blew her away from the monstrous Grimm.

The Nevermore wasted no time in making a lunge for Ruby, but its attempts were thwarted by a familiar small sword being imbedded into its chest. Unfortunately for them the Nevermore didn't seem phased by it save for being pushed back by the force behind the sword.

Ruby looked behind her to see Pyrrha with her arm held forwards. One of Penny's swords was held in her off hand while the several more rose up into the air behind Mistral's champion.

"Leave her alone." Pyrrha ordered in a shaky voice, but whether the Nevermore understood her or not wasn't clear as the thing screeched loud enough to hurt their ears. Launching itself into the air the Nevermore circled once around trying to find an opening.

Not finding one the Nevermore swooped down towards the two girls as Pyrrha launched every one of Penny's swords at it but to no avail. Weaving in between a few of the flying blades allowed it to avoid taking any critical hits to its head as the Nevermore flattened itself out just before hitting the ground.

Gaining the extra speed it opened its beak to catch Ruby within its maw, but out of nowhere an even greater force than the swords smashed into its back.

Off balance for only a second the Nevermore reared its head back to the two weaponless humans before two more of the unseen projectiles smashed into its body. One had cracked the bone connecting its shoulder to its right wing, but that was the least of its worries as more projectiles hit it.

Like rain, but instead replace the rain with quarter ton heavy rocket lockers, they rained atop the giant Nevermore without mercy as the Grimm's momentum came to a stop right in front of Ruby and Pyrrha.

Each locker was steaming before their doors shot off to reveal nearly every Vytal competitor's weapon.

Not wasting time everyone grabbed his or her respective weapons except for Ruby who hadn't yet called in her own weapon locker. It could have been called poetic in a way; seeing all of her friends and competitors standing tall atop a great force of Grimm.

However, the Nevermore still lived as it tried standing up, but the added weight from both the lockers and students impeded its progress. Wasting no time everyone got into action to kill the beast.

Running up along its spine Nora jumped into the air before bringing down the hammer atop its head. Disorientated the Nevermore wasn't able to back itself away as both Yatsuhashi and Sage simultaneously guillotined the head clean off.

Once the Grimm's ashes had flown away Ruby slowly walked up one of the swords that hadn't been used during the fight. Gripping it tightly in her hand Ruby felt her eyes grow wet as tears threatened to break free, but she couldn't cry, not yet at least.

"Ruby I… I'm so sorry." A pitying Pyrrha came over to apologize as Ruby shrugged her hand away.

"I'm sorry too, but it wasn't either of our faults."

"You're right." Jaune agreed as he walked up to both of them with both Pyrrha's weapons in hand along with his own strapped to his side.

The confidence he carried now was showing just how much he had grown since coming to Beacon, and that made Pyrrha smile a little bit.

"Whoever that was on the microphone? They're the one that did this. And I bet that voice from that… whatever that thing was, is the same one who killed our friend. So let's make sure that they don't take anyone else away from us." The determination in his voice raised everyone's spirits as Pyrrha accepted her weapons from him.

The moment was ruined though when a harsh, deeper screech filled the air.

Looking up at the edges of the coliseum they saw hundreds of Gryphons flying overhead, but what surprised them was how many seemed to ignore them as only twenty or so stopped to land.

There was something different about these Grimm that made the fear in their hearts deepen.

Ruby kept a steeled face though as she looked up into the glowing white eyes of a Gryphon and its rider. Black Knights atop their beasts began to beat their weapons against their shields all at once in rhythm as the metallic drum grew louder.

"A-anyone got a plan here?" Neptune asked as they all began to spread out to cover more fronts for when they attacked. "Sun, I'll need your Scroll."

With a flick of his tail Sun threw his Scroll over to Ruby in which she called in her weapon locker. It was there in less than a minute and just as she saw the best weapon to ever exist on the planet it was obscured by a Gryphon and its rider.

The Black Knight atop the beast was about to thrust their sword right at Ruby if it were not for the musket round that knocked the Gryphon off balance.

Falling down atop its rider the Black Knight almost succeeded in freeing themselves before another two rounds filled a hole in its chest.

Both Professors Oobleck and Port made their presence known after that. "I think it would be best if you students leave." The jolly man stated calmly as if he just didn't kill someone.

"But Professor we could-"

"Ms. Rose! This day will most certainly go down in history, and I would _prefer_ to have my students live to tell about it." It was the calmest that any of them had ever heard Oobleck speak, but they weren't about to argue with them as the metallic drumming had stopped.

Nodding to them both, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose before leading the others out of Amity.

"Care for a final match between two old dogs Peter?" Oobleck aimed his weapon up as knights and Gryphons descended upon them in droves. His fellow professor smiled back at him in what seemed like their last battle together.

"Place your bets Barney."

Outside of Amity the remaining citizens were still being evacuated as the Atlas forces were doing their best to hold off the attacking Grimm.

Ironwood himself had just finished off an Alpha Beowolf as if had came a little close to getting to the civilians. Watching its body turn into nothing but dust to be scattered Ironwood wasn't surprised when he turned around to see the majority of the Vytal competitors come running up behind him.

"General Ironwood! What's going on?!" Ruby called out ahead as they all came up to stop in front of the imposing Atlas general. He kept a blank expression as he went over what he had managed to gather over both the surveillance systems and communications.

"Grimm have invaded the city and their numbers don't seem to be going down as fast as we'd like them to. Hunters have been dispatched all over to try and contain them within the city at all costs while we try and evacuate the survivors as best we can. To make matters worse the White Fang have invaded Beacon and those _knights_ appear to be fighting alongside the Grimm."

It didn't make any sense to him whatsoever and he couldn't contact Ozpin at the moment as the CCT's signal seemed to be jammed. Most likely by the same woman that made that speech earlier.

' _This must be the Queen's handiwork.'_ James thought to himself.

"As if the situation wasn't dire enough some… vagabond has seized control of one of my ships," Ironwood took a moment to gaze over to where he had to bear witness to two Atlas carriers being shot down. It pained him to think of how many lives must have been lost, but mourning them would have to come later.

Turning back to face the competitors he was at least relieved to see that none of their expressions showed any sign of backing down. "As long as whoever has control of that ship remains there, the skies are out of our control."

"I'm leaving-" He stopped himself when he saw the Creeper sneaking up behind the students, but before it could have even landed on one of them he made quick work of it with his gun. "To take it back."

With that said Ironwood began walking aboard to his awaiting transport that would get him to that ship.

"What should we do?" It was the Arc boy that voiced the question as the General turned around. Keeping it simple as he was in a hurry he responded, "The way I see it you have two choices. Defend your kingdom and your school, or save yourselves."

Cautious looks were shared between those gathered as Ironwood watched on in silence. These were tomorrows Huntsmen and Huntresses. The future of mankind's defense against their many enemies. They were the lifeblood of their kingdoms.

"No one would fault you if you choose to leave. Let's move out!" He left them with those choices in mind as he strapped himself into the pilot's chair. Once the door had closed he wasted no time in departing for the rogue ship.

No one said anything as they all looked to one another with looks of worry. That worry wondering who amongst them would choose to abandon their kingdom in its time of need to see tomorrow.

"Come on, we can take a ship to Beacon." Jaune had really changed a lot during his time at the prestigious school. Rallying the others to follow him everyone save for Ruby went ahead to secure a Bullhead for Beacon.

Off in the distance Ruby watched as the remaining Atlas carrier fired down at the defenseless people below. It caused her hands to ball up into fists before she was being called over by Jaune.

Ruby took one last look up at the carrier before rushing over to meet up with her friends.

…

It was an all out war out on the courtyard of Beacon academy.

Weiss pulled out the blood-stained Myrtenaster from an Ursa's underbelly as the creature turned to black dust. The blood itself evaporated as well, but that didn't really concern her as five more Creepers tried rushing at her.

Two on the left and three in front of her Weiss prepared a speed glyph beneath her feet. Once it had been adjusted correctly the Schnee heiress shot forward almost as fast as her leader as she felt Myrtenaster's pierce through the two approaching her flank.

Another glyph had slowed her descent before she replaced it with another speed glyph as she performed the same maneuver to finish off the remaining three.

Panting a little from the seemingly endless amount of Grimm entering the school Weiss readied herself as more Beowolves tried running past her to get to the soldiers behind her and Blake.

Her Dust reserves were getting very low so she didn't want to risk using it to fend off a few average Grimm. Luckily she didn't have to as Blake had their rear covered.

Running the bow of Gambol Shroud Blake tossed and hooked her weapon across the rampaging Grimm as it hooked itself around an intact lamppost. Imbedding the other half into the ground she was met with the satisfaction of tripping up the first two Beowolves.

The others, blinded by their rage, fell over their kin until they were a withering pile of limbs, claws, and bones. The Atlas soldiers and robots fired upon the Grimm and soon eight more Grimm lay dead.

Retrieving her weapon Blake headed over to Weiss to check up on her teammate.

"You okay?"

Nodding her head the heiress looked to her friend before saying, "Just a little winded is all. We should group up with the soldiers before the next wave comes to have a better strategy." Blake preferred to working only with those she either knew or trusted, but beggars can't be choosers in the middle of a Grimm invasion.

Agreeing with Weiss both girls headed over to the stationed Atlesian robots before stopping in their tracks only a few yards away.

The Atlas soldiers lay dead on the ground at the robots feet. Bullet wounds and dust rounds impacted their bodies as the bots slowly turned themselves around to face the two Huntress-in-training.

Their visors screens turned a bright red as each Atlas bot raised their rifles whist aiming right for their heads.

"Look out!" Blake called out to a stunned Weiss before tackling the girl to the ground. Dust rounds impacted the ground all around them, but by some miracle both hadn't been hit. Unfortunately their luck didn't last as they were now surrounded by the treacherous robots.

Both girls pulled out their weapons before bracing themselves against each other as the first bot tried hitting Blake with the butt of its rifle.

Catching the end of the gun within the crook of Gambol Shroud, Blake made quick work of its arm by removing it completely from its frame. Soon the head followed as both girls went to work cutting apart each Atlesian knight before they even had a chance to fire.

It became somewhat of a blur for each of them from there on as they had split up to cover more ground. A small army of marching Atlas knights soon fell victim to Weiss and her rapier as, with the aid of her glyphs, made short work by moving fast in between the rows.

Her precision left the robots in pieces as many lost their head to the Schnee heiress.

A rather large group of White Fang grunts managed to get by her though. With each one wielding a quickly crafted hand axe or sword, they would be harder to deal with in close quarters combat.

None could match up to Blake's skill however as she sliced and flipped her way through their missed swings. Her clone took a few hits for her, but she rarely had to use it against them as she just took down five more.

Nearly a dozen of them tried to gang up on her while she recovered from using up so much stamina, but Weiss was there to protect her as the Schnee knocked them away.

Both girls looked down at the unconscious or moaning grunts with distaste as they had played a hand in this. A pained cry pulled their attention away though as they saw a small group of the remaining Atlas soldiers trying to fend off what appeared to be an upgraded version of the Paladin they had fought awhile back.

It looked more armored than the previous model and more durable as the rounds the soldiers fired off didn't even seem to faze it one bit. Plowing right through them with ease both girls were about to make their way over to help when they spotted a Bullhead come flying down in flames.

From within a Grimm had jumped out of the doomed ship as it landed next to a few fleeing unarmed students. It was an Alpha Beowolf from the looks of it as it attacked any fleeing students.

Two powerful enemies were approaching on two sides as they looked at one another. Weiss smiled at Blake before saying, "Just be careful."

With that both girls split up to take care of their respective targets. Blake went after the Alpha while Weiss headed over towards the Paladin. However, just before either of them got no more than five feet away from each other a low moaning sound fills the entire courtyard.

Both of them look around for the source of the noise before Blake pointed it out.

"Over there!" Following to where she was pointing to Weiss's eyes widened as she saw the same black portal that Tyrell's killer had come through, but the only difference being that this one was much larger.

The black and white like vortex began rippling; as though a stone had been dropped atop calm water's surface.

It was then that an Ashen Golem stepped forth through the large humanity portal and onto Beacon's courtyard. The ground shook when it took steps forwards and slammed its shield into the ground.

Then a second followed though as well as a third before they positioned themselves side by side.

Each carried their signature greatshield while their larger than life great-axe was tightly gripped within their right hand. Their shields were held up in a defensive manner leaving only a foot long gap in between each shield.

It wasn't until they started marching that Weiss was the one to save Blake this time as an iron-tipped arrow missed the Faunus' head by a hair, but had grazed Weiss's shoulder.

It had pierced the skin as well as drawing some blood, but her aura did a good job at protecting her for the most part. Blake took a closer look to see the glowing white eyes within the gaps that the golems left open for the marching archers to shoot from.

Helping Weiss up Blake was growing worried as now they had _three_ large targets to deal with, and they were getting very low on their Dust reserves.

Lucky for them they seemed to have at least some time before those golems would reach them, but it still unnerved her to see the Atlas soldier's rounds bounce almost harmlessly off the shields each giant held.

"Blake we need to go."

"What?" She was confused. Who would take care of this last new enemy? Surely her teammate didn't mean to leave it up to the soldiers.

As if reading her mind Weiss shook her head before saying, "We don't have a choice here Blake. They've had the best training Atlas can offer non-aura users."

"Will they be alright?" Soldier or not, they still didn't have the same training nor defensive aura like they did.

"They'll have to be if we want to hold down the school." It was a hard pill to swallow, but Blake agreed nonetheless as they split up to catch up to their other unchecked targets.

Neither of the girls saw the thirty Black Knights guarding the flanks of the archers and golems as their formation slowly grew closer to their goal.

…

Aboard Ironwood's ship he and his personal squadron of Atlesian knights were on their way to the rogue ship that had unfortunately had Roman Torchwick aboard it. There was no doubt in his mind that it was the criminal and an accomplice that had freed him who had taken over his ship.

Clenching his hand into a fist Ironwood would have that scum bag back behind bars faster than Glynda could clear a room with her icy glare.

Clearing his mind to focus better on the task at hand he was approaching the ship when he heard something stir in the back. It was only when he heard the sound of a gun being cocked did he turn around to see the entire squadron of knights with their rifles pointed at him.

When he saw the red light that shined from their visors he knew that he was in trouble.

A single knight aimed its rifle right at the controls before he could try and intercept it.

" _No_!" He shouted as it let loose ten rounds into the controls while another one had just finished throwing a single hand grenade into the left thrusters exhaust panel. The explosion that ensued shook the entire vessel while the explosion destroyed most of the knights.

The remaining ones didn't last long however as the ship spiraled out of control. Flames engulfed Ironwood's transport as it flew past a passing civilian transport in its descent to the ground.

If one looked close enough through the chaos and smoke then they would see a small red rocket flying towards the last remaining Bullhead carrier.

"Damn it!" He shouted as he tried to regain any control over the doomed ship as the streets of Vale grew closer and closer. Giving up entirely on the ship, Ironwood braced for impact as his transport made contact with the ground.

Thrown around like a child's toy inside a metal ship wasn't exactly the most _comfortable_ experience James has ever had, but he's survived worst. After what must have been a collision with a building Ironwood slowly came to.

' _I survived. Good.'_ He thought to himself as he began pushing a broken torso of one of the Atlas knights off him. Checking over himself for injuries he was ever thankful to his aura that took a majority of the damage.

The same couldn't be said for his clothes however.

Only torn rags clung to his person, exposing a majority of the scars that have been with him since before he became general. Testing his prosthetic limb and satisfied to find it in suitable working order he began climbing his way out of the ship's wreckage.

He stopped though as the sound of heavy hooves against hard concrete forced him back into the wreckage.

Vale didn't own any horses as they didn't have the free space to roam free. Animals like those could only really be found in Vacuo, but even then they were rare to see due to roaming desert Grimm.

This only meant one thing.

Being careful not to be seen James lifted his head to get a look at what was currently occupying the area, and what he saw both made him right and shocked at the same time.

Not far from the wreckage of his ship and in worrying numbers, Nightmares were spread out all across the block that he had crashed into.

Nightmares were at their most basic form the Grimm version of horses, but anything Grimm was far deadlier.

Standing nearly seven feet in height, their large frames were supported by eight legs. Each hoof was made of stronger bone than normal Grimm possessed to allow them to remain running for extended periods of time.

Thankfully only the front two legs held any defense with average bone plating to cover up to their knees.

With minimal bone plating to cover their sides, along with their multitude of legs allowed Nightmares to reach frightening speeds. Their bone plated skulls looked more like a goat's head rather than a horse's, and the two curled horns growing on the side of their lower jaws made them even more alien to their cousins.

Black markings replaced the usual red that was accustomed to everything Grimm, and the way their eyes glowed white instead of blood red had Ironwood wary.

Nightmares were actually rare creatures to be found out in the wild, and unlike Beowolf packs, Nightmares usually were found at most in small groups of three or four. But none of this even mattered at the moment as James shockingly looked at what was _riding_ the Nightmares.

More of that lord's men were saddled atop each Nightmare with experience it looked like.

Never in the history of Remnant has a human been able to tame, let alone ride, a Grimm. There were loose cannons like that Valkyrie girl he read up on that rode Grimm like a wild rodeo, but never something so _calm_.

Never once did a Nightmare bite back at its rider nor did they try and lash out when their rider directed them. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before in his entire life.

Looking closer at the riders now he saw that each carried a twisted looking, dark bronze colored spear and long shield in either hand. Their armor matched that of their lord with the only difference being that theirs wasn't entirely charred black.

He sensed it before he just dodged a spear being jabbed at where his heart was a split second ago. With his revolver still in hand James took aim before firing off two rounds before his left hand was impaled to one of the metal wings of his transport.

"Aaaauuugh!" He shouted in pain as he looked over to see a heavy stone spear imbedding through not only his hand, but the crumpled wing as well. Trying to free it using his prosthetic hand he was just a second too slow as a heavy metal boot kicked him right in the sweet spot.

No matter how strong he was, no man could withstand taking that hard a blow to his family jewels.

Crumpling down onto his knees it twisted his hand causing more pain to build up as the one who had impaled him said, "Face your captor with dignity heretic!" A bit muffled, but he made out a female's voice through the black iron helm.

She wore heavy armor by the looks of it with a broad chest piece that held sizable shoulders while her black gauntlets finger tips had been sharpened to fine points. Sharp enough to look like claws as her black leggings down to her armored feet were more of a similar fashion to the other knights.

"Heretic?" He asked through the pain as he looked up at her, but was only met with the cylindrical-shaped helmet along with two glowing white eyes.

That question was met with a strong right hook as the woman hissed in pain due to the action. It wasn't until then that Ironwood noticed that she heavily clutched her side as blood slowly stained her hand and armor.

"Do not speak anymore heretic. On me men!" Her orders were well received as the knights that he had spotted, along with many more that he hadn't, rode up to them on their Nightmares. The hopes of escaping this alive suddenly grew fainter as a few knights dismounted before placing their spears up against his throat. "Prepare the good general here to be taken back home. Fetch me a blessing before I bleed out."

She was calm as she ordered her men around to prepare for their next plan of attack, but she also seemed to hold an air of confidence around her that rallied her troops.

Despite being his enemy, James had to commend her for that at least.

After taking a small sip from a strange looking vase the woman seemed to relax a little as she stopped clutching her side, and Ironwood was surprised to see the bleeding had stopped.

' _So quickly. What on Remnant was that tonic?'_ He thought as the still unnamed woman approached him once more.

She easily yanked out the stone spear with one hand much to his displeasure as the dulling pain returned with a vengeance. Strapping the heavy stone spear to her backside, next to a white and green shield, the woman kneeled down to be on his eye level.

With the spears still so close to his neck he couldn't risk trying to attack her without submitting his own life. He needed answers first before he died, like how they were able to tame the Grimm.

"Who are you people? What do you want with me?" He kept calm despite the circumstances, but that was to be expected of him as Atlas' military General. He was surprised that she didn't hit him again for speaking out loud, but instead she patted his cheek in an almost affectionate way.

"That answer will come later dear general. As for you, well our Lord would like to thank you for the "gift" that you sent to us. He only wants to repay you in kind is all." Standing back up she looked down at him before saying, "And from one general to another let me say it's nothing personal."

The heavy metal boot came faster than he was prepared for as it dug into his stomach. With his aura so low from the crash her strike hurt all the more, and it only continued to grow weaker as she proceeded to beat down on him.

His vision was swimming now as dark circles began forming along the edges of his vision. He didn't notice it at first, but he must have fallen down as now he could only see the metal leggings of this woman and the knights she commanded.

Her heel dung into his skull multiple times until all he could barely hear was a dull crunching sound before blacking out.

…

"Get down!" But it was said too late as another one of Green Company went down under a hail of arrows. Getting behind cover one of the dozen or so remaining Atlas soldiers loaded in another clip into his rifle before lifting his head out to fire.

An archer's dexterous hand allowed the arrow to fly easily between the shields of the golems as it hit home on another target. The heretic dropped faster than a prism stone in water as the arrow went straight through their jaw.

Loading another arrow into their short bows, the next volley of arrows was loosed onto the dwindling numbers of Atlas soldiers. Their advances continued uninterrupted even when the Atlas soldiers tried flanking around, and were met by the blades of the Black Knights.

It was chaos on the battlefield as the commander of the advancement, a Black Knight adorning a small red cape with their Lord's sigil sewn in with black stitching, called out for the Knights to begin spreading out.

They began to do so while pushing further ahead of the golems to finish off what remained of the soldiers. While their shields proved to be able to withstand the small bursts fired from by the soldiers their armor was weaker when a few knights had their guard broken.

But a few losses made no difference as the helpless soldiers either ran out of bullets, or tried engaging the Black Knights in combat.

Each one was torn down within seconds as not a single one that tried melee managed to take a single knight down. The commander ordered a full on advancement once the last soldier had been killed.

The archers stood back as the golems slammed their shields with crushing force before increasing their speed with their shields held out in front. Each golem separated from the others to allow more room to be shared.

They were almost to statue of Beacon now as the only true threats to them were being kept busy at the moment.

With each golem charging ahead the commander ordered the knights to follow them while the archers went to pick off other targets. Drawing its Greataxe with ease the furthest golem smashed the statue as if it were made of sand before charging forwards once more.

*BANG*

When the commander looked to see where the shot had fired from he spotted instead the Golem's left calf had been cracked. It held and seemed to be standing itself back up before a man- no, a boy, wielding a large curved greatsword severed the golem's lower leg right off.

It didn't stop there however as more of Beacon's defenders landed on top of the golem. A few that the commander noted was an orange haired girl wielding a massive Greathammer which had slammed into the golem's backside. The boy whom held two small green "pistols" as they were called seemed to be telling the girl something that made her giggle.

Ash and rock began falling off the golem's body as another he noted was a redheaded gladiator that aimed her spear above her shield at them. The way she held herself suggested that she was an experienced fighter, unlike the fool that stood beside her.

Judging by his choice of a sword and shield the commander assumed this boy was a knight, or a pale imitation of one at the least. More dropped down atop the golem and to the commander's displeasure the golem cracked and struggled beneath all the weapons plunged into it.

Turning to those he commanded he shouted out, **"We are the tip of the spear in this attack, and we will not shatter on first contact! The rest will be arriving soon, but let them have nothing to come to as we will have already cleared out these heretics!"**

Every knight raised their weapons high as the commander prepared to lead his men into the battle of Beacon. The golem shook as some of their enemies began spreading out all across the courtyard to handle the beasts and metal men.

Only when its large body finally succumbed to the damage and fell onto the cobblestone did the commander issue the order to charge their enemies.

Before their onslaught continued the commander saw not fear, but determination in the blazing blue eyes of this squire.

He would break it.

…

Jaune Arc was ready for the first of many blades to come at him and his team. Unfortunately it was _only_ him and his team that met these men in combat as the others spread out to fight off the attacking Grimm and robots.

So to say he was a little relieved when a massive tremor shook the ground and halted the Black Knights in their tracks wouldn't be far off. But he grew worried when a second tremor began shaking the entire courtyard.

"An earthquake?!" He shouted over the rumbling. As soon as he spoke the words though they ceased. "I don't think so." It was Ren who spoke up as something sent another tremor across the ground.

Silence filled the entire courtyard for only a few short moments before a far away roar shook them to their bones.

' _What the-?'_

"Jaune in front of you!" It was Pyrrha who shouted the warning as he spun around just in time to block the swing of one of the Black Knight's swords.

It made his arm ach a bit, but he held his ground as his enemy reared his arm back to thrust the deadly blade.

Knowing better than to try and block Jaune ducked a second right before the blade met his head. "Hold them back! Don't let a single one of them through guys!" He knew that he had his team behind him, and they wouldn't fall.

Sidestepping his opponent's next attack his sword connected to the black armor before he was met with a short grunt.

The Black Knight forced him to back away when he used the pointed end of his shield as a makeshift weapon. Thinking back on his training sessions with Pyrrha, he should be able to handle a simple sword and shield.

Only problem was, the sword was almost as tall as his entire body.

Adjusting the grip he had on Crocea Mors a little Jaune waited for his opponent to come to him. His enemy charged at him with only their shield held up, and once he reached Jaune only then did he strike.

Sweeping his feet beneath the knight's Jaune gave it all he got to trip over his opponent and was rewarded for the effort. Managing to get one foot underneath the Black Knight was all he needed as the knight lost his balance before Jaune rammed him with his shield.

Gravity did the rest and gave him the advantage he needed to get atop his opponent. Raising his sword up Jaune was… was about to… kill a man?

Knocking him out would take too long with all that armor and his team needed him, but could he bring himself to do it? It's not like he could kindly ask this guy to lower his weapons and give up.

' _These men. They killed Tyrell. They had a hand in Penny's death as well as whatever it was they did to Cardin and his team.'_ Jaune began to feel an emotion he hadn't felt in such a long time begin to boil to the surface.

' _They're the ones killing innocents and good people. They're monsters… just like the Grimm.'_

Jaune Arc made his decision right then and there as he raised his sword higher in the air. Plunging the blade of Crocea Mors into the small gap that exposed the man's face, Jaune yelled as he did so.

Pyrrha, who had been busy dealing with several of the Black Knights herself, turned to see her leader with his blade dyed a crimson red.

Her eyes, filled with shock, looked on as Jaune met another knight head on in combat. He bore the fruits of their training together up on the rooftop, but something was wrong.

He seemed to be running on auto-pilot as he blocked, parryed, and riposted his next opponent without blinking an eye.

Knocking her opponent's out took longer than she would have liked, but bouncing her shield off their heads proved to be an effective method once they lowered their shields.

Jaune hadn't been the only one learning during their training.

Once the task was done she called over to her teammates. "Something is wrong with Jaune." Nora was busy at the moment fighting off one of the two remaining golems as Ren just finished letting one of the knights out of a sleeper hold.

"What's wrong?" He called over before looking to where she was pointing to. A worried look came over his normally stoic face as he looked to her before saying, "I'll take care of Jaune, but I need you to help Nora out." Nodding once the champion was off to aid her teammate while Ren went over to Jaune's aid.

"Jaune." His leader and friend turned to face him, and Ren wasn't surprised to see the blank look in Jaune's eyes. His father once told him that when someone first ends the life of another person they experience different stages.

Some would take pleasure in the killings and continue while others fell unconscious. A few rarer cases resulted in the killer's mind falling unconscious while their body's natural reflexes continued on with their work. Unfortunately for Ren, Jaune was one of those special cases.

Jaune charged right at him without a second thought before trying to swing his weapon at him. Dodging was easier as, while he would never openly discourage his leader, Jaune was still average at best. Plus, Ren's movements allowed him to weave between each attack easier.

When the opening presented itself he took it before grabbing a hold of his leader's arm before delivering a hard slap to his face.

Blinking once, twice, the light returned to Jaune's eyes as he looked around with a confused expression. "Ren? Why did you…?" It was then he noticed his crimson stained blade and to Ren's surprise Jaune didn't look worried, but more disappointed in himself.

"We can talk about it later Jaune. Right now your team needs you." He sounded confident, but Jaune didn't meet his eyes before nodding. Both headed out to aid their friends and teammates as the battle continued.

The golem they were fighting proved to be much more difficult even with all of them fighting it at once. And it was only one as the other had rushed off to who knows where.

Ren's bullets showed to be useless against its tough armored skin while Jaune and he were left trying to take out its legs. While Pyrrha's precise spear put a good few cracks in that armor, it was Nora's hammer and strength that began to weaken the golem.

Wherever she struck sent pieces of both ash and rock flying, but in the end it only seemed to slow the golem down a bit.

"Why the heck won't this thing go down?!" Nora sounded more annoyed than worried than the rest of them felt as Ren and Pyrrha dodged out of the way of its heavy axe swing. That was another thing that proved to be quite troublesome as if they got too close then it would swing its axe, and when they were about to try and hit its front a greatshield would block them.

"We need to keep going for its legs guys. Ren you, Nora and I are going to keep its attention facing us while Pyrrha." The champion met her leader's eyes as he issued his next order, "Try and knock one of its legs out. If we can get it down to a knee then Nora can get on top and beat its head in."

"Oooohhh we're _finally_ going to break someone's legs! Well, I guess this thing isn't really a person so we aren'tbreaking a _persons'_ legs, but rather a giant rock monster's and-"

"Nora."

"Yes Ren?"

"Let's concentrate on the fight at hand." Nodding all three of them headed off to split up the golem's attention while Pyrrha snuck around behind it. Readying Milo in hand she had to take precise aim if they were going to kill this thing.

Ren was looked like he was running out of stamina while Jaune was breathing a little heavier than normal. Even Nora looked like she was running out of steam as she just barely dodged out of the way of the axe's blade.

It was then that she saw the best opening at the heel of the golem.

There lay a deep crack that webbed almost up to its lower calf. It was her best bet at taking out its mobility out as she lined up the shot. Rearing her arm back her focus was shaken watching Nora push Ren out of the way as the axe swept the bubbly girl high into the air.

"Nora!" Her childhood friend shouted perhaps the loudest any of them ever heard him as he tried getting to her before he was roughly shoved aside by the golem's greatshield. Jaune looked back over to her shouting, "Do it now Pyrrha!"

She would have if not for her reflexes kicking in to avoid the backstab attempt by another Black Knight.

She made sure to put distance between them as she heard Jaune facing off against the golem alone.

" **All of you heretics shall suffer for what you worship."** The Knight said in an aggressive tone as he took another swing at Pyrrha. Dodging was harder for her against these opponents as whenever she tried guiding their weapons along she felt no response from the material.

She learned that the hard way when Tyrell had been killed.

"What do you mean 'heretics'?" She was confused and wanted to her questions answered, but at the same time she didn't care as Jaune needed help.

" _Pyrrha!_ " He had been knocked down by the golem's shield and was about to end his life with its axe. Pyrrha wasted no time in using the tip of Milo to slit the slightly exposed throat of the Knight.

Before his body could even hit the ground Milo had left her hand faster than a bullet as she guided the shot with her semblance.

A deep, inhuman grunt came from the golem as Milo made its mark. The crack didn't widen but rather left the entire lower leg of the golem in pieces.

Wasting absolutely no time to allow it to recover Pyrrha guided Milo back to her as she ran up its broad backside before plunging the tip of Milo's spear into the back of its neck.

Time seemed to freeze as not her, Jaune, nor the golem moved.

A small crinkling sound filled both their ears as larger chips and ashes fell off the golem. It soon resembled that of a husk before completely falling over onto the ground.

She didn't waste long to drop down from the dead golem's back before running over to where Jaune had dragged Ren and Nora. "Are they alright?" Her words were thick with worry as they should be. He nodded which brought a rush of relief over her before she looked up behind Jaune.

Milo was about to be raised to protect her leader, but he had already drawn his blade before piercing the abdomen of the commander that had lead the attack.

" **..D-damn… you heretics."** The commander fell further into the blade forcing Jaune to shove him off, and when Pyrrha looked over to him she was about to open her mouth when he stopped her.

"Later Pyr. L-later." He sounded even more tired, but she wouldn't push it as another surprise awaited her standing in the doorway to Beacon's main hall. Professor Ozpin stood waiting as he looked directly at her.

When Jaune took notice she was already heading over to the headmaster. She knew what he would want of her as Jaune called out to her. She didn't stop to listen even though she wanted to, but it was the firm hand that grabbed her arm that she knew belonged to her leader.

"Jaune I-"

"I don't know what's going on with you Pyr, but I'm not going to let you face it alone." He couldn't tell how happy those words made her, but then their teammates came to mind. "What about Ren and Nora?"

"Weiss and Coco are looking after them. They took down the other golem, but that doesn't matter now. I'm going with you and that's an order." Nodding with a smile on her face, Pyrrha was glad to have someone she cared for her by her side as both headed off to meet up with Ozpin.

…

Deep within Beacon's vault the contained humanity sprite began moving once more.

It shook violently as it tried breaking free of its prison, but the thick glass held strong.

It wasn't until it began to convulse that the glass began to shake. Ash began pouring out from within the sprite itself until the entire container was filled, but that didn't stop the flow of ashes coming through.

Cracks began to surface along the edges of the container as more and more ash was being pumped through.

It proved to be too much for the container soon enough and eventually the glass shattered. Ash poured out all across the floor until it finally came to a stop after the glass had broken.

The sprite had ceased convulsing while it slowly rose up before changing shape to look similar to that of a fire keeper's soul. White veins began sprouting from the twisted orb like sprite as they began to take shape.

Two arms, two legs, and a single head formed from the sprite's veins as the ash began wrapping itself around the new "body."

Like molding clay the ash covered the entire body before starting to take a finer shape. The distinct armor of Abell took shape as well as his halberd and shield forming in each hand.

Two glowing black and orange eyes filled Abell's head.

He stepped easily onto the glass, hearing it crunch beneath his boots as he made his way over to the broken sister while the broken thief made her way here as well.

* * *

 **Well college is off and on for me right now, but I'm managing. So despite going through this chapter I found that some parts were lacking a little while others were good. I still hope you all enjoyed this chapter and its events as this has been a long time coming for this fic.**

 **Next chapter I will try and see about getting done before Halloween, but also need to work on my other fic. If you haven't checked it out yet its called "Shell of a Soul" and can be found on my profile. Please give it a read if you have the time and I would appreciate any feedback, on either of these fics.**

 **Thank you all again for the support that you've shown me. Almost two hundred favorites and nearly a fourth of the way to THREE HUNDRED followers! I can't thank you all enough and will do my best to get the next chapter out soon.**

 **Talk to you all in the next chapter.**


	25. Chapter 25

**It's 2 am right now and I'm tired so not going to say much here. Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **Fall: Finale**_

They rushed out of the elevator before its doors were even fully opened. What Jaune saw of the large underground chamber had him in awe as they sprinted down the long chamber beneath the school.

"What is this place?" His voice felt small as it was carried up to the ceiling far up above. The sounds of their hurried footsteps echoed off the walls as they ran across the smooth marble floor.

Pyrrha looked back to him with an unsure expression before seeming to come to a decision. "It's… a vault of some kind." Jaune's face could only be described as that of confused as he asked, "You've been here before?"

She didn't respond as they arrived at Amber's pod.

"Wha- Who is this?" His eyes filled with worry as he saw the strange device with an unconscious girl hooked up in one of the two pods. When he saw Ozpin opening the second one he turned to Pyrrha for answers.

"Look, Jaune, I know that this is all _very_ sudden for you, but I need you to put your trust in me. The Headmaster is going to grant me a power that may be our only chance to save everyone. Do you trust me?" His silence and uncertainty had her worried as she reached out to him.

"Jaune?"

"I trust you." There was no hesitation in his voice as he said it, and it was that confirmation that gave her the confidence she needed to step into the second pod.

"Are you sure about this Ms. Nikos?" Ozpin sounded tired as he waited for her final decision. She nodded silently, but he looked to her before saying, "I need to hear you say it."

"Do it."

"Thank you Ms. Nikos." With that Ozpin activated the machine. A bright orange glow began filling the tubes connected to Amber's pod. The woman began to wake up as a result while Ozpin and Jaune looked on in silence as the process took place. "I'm sorry."

It was then the Pyrrha began to scream in what either of them assumed had to be unimaginable pain as she clutched her head in both hands.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune ran up to the glass feeling powerless to try and help her.

It was then, just as Amber truly began to wake up, that a single black arrow pierced right through the glass and into her chest. The light faded quickly away from her eyes as the light filling up the tubes receded back into her dying body.

"No!" Ozpin turned around to see at the end of the corridor two figures standing in the middle of the corridor.

Cinder Fall, with bow in hand, smiled as the rest of the Fall Maiden's power surged forth and into her. Abell's golem stood beside her silent as stone while Ozpin could only watch in horror as his worst nightmare became a reality before him.

" **And now the first sister is complete."** The golem broke his silence as he watched the power of just one soul grant someone such strength.

The Fall Maiden's power rotated around her like a swarm of angry hornets as she lifted herself off the ground. Just the feeling of true power it gave Cinder made her feel amazing. When Salem had granted such power, it had felt limited to a degree.

 _This_ however made her feel truly free as she locked eyes with her toughest opponent that she'd faced in years.

All the power felt exhilarating throughout her entire being as the young Arc boy tried attacking her. Ozpin had shouted a warning to the fool, but it was too late as she brushed him off as if her were nothing but dust.

Jaune sailed over into a column with a crash before falling to the floor. He was down, but not out as Ozpin warned him to stay back.

Cinder saw how angry it made Nikos to watch her crush being hurt, and she might have even entertained killing him if it weren't for the green Aura being built up by Ozpin.

"Abell, please take care of these pests while I deal with the Headmaster." He had been both her and Salem's biggest thorn for so long now, and it was time to remove said thorn once and for all.

" **No."** Silence followed after as the single defying word echoed around them.

That had her lifting a brow at her "ally" as she spared him a glance. "That was an order Abell." Her voice was low and threatening, but she assumed that he felt nothing as his abilities were still a mystery to her.

She had only met him in person once.

" **A Lord does not take orders from a witch. Especially one birthed from Chaos."** The tone he held had little emotion to it save for a slight smugness that left her feeling rather annoyed at the moment.

She really wasn't in the mood for this, but as he turned to face her she already had a ball of fire forming to melt his puppet.

"If that is your final answer, then you will fall with the rest of them as well." Just as she was about to turn and destroy the golem, only tiny embers escaped her palm.

As she tried again the same result occurred.

"What?!" The surprise in her voice must have been audible as a faint chuckle escaped the golem. She then tried summoning her black blades, but in the middle of their materialization they disintegrated into dust that fell to her feet.

The more she tried calling upon the Maiden's powers the less responsive they became.

' _What is going on?'_ Cinder thought to herself. She has had more than enough time to master the Maiden's powers to do more than emit simple sparks! Was it that she couldn't handle the full power?

No, that was less likely due to the literal months she had spent honing her abilities down with only half of the full soul.

The only other explanation that she could come up with was…

' _Sabotage!'_

Before she could even accuse such a thing something felt terribly wrong with the flow of power.

As if her very blood was being blocked from flowing through her, the Maiden's powers slowed down to little more than a crawl. Moving became a chore for her as she suddenly began to feel heavy.

Cinder felt weighed down as she slowly began descending back to the marble floor, but it hadn't stopped there. The angry swarm of the Fall Maiden's powers faded back into her as the weight continued to increase.

When she was on her hands and knees Abell's golem walked around her and knelt down next to her.

" **Do you think that I wouldn't have noticed your betrayal? How you fooled poor Alan and ended his miserable life in a fiery explosion. His charred corpse being the only thing left for him. You betrayed me** _ **far**_ **before this moment Witch, and I had warned you of the consequences of such actions."**

Cinder recalled the imp in question, but it was _how_ Abell had found out when it was only she and the assassin up in the CCT that night. There were no spies save for the Knight he had also sent along with Alan, but hadn't it died during the Breach?

More than enough time in between to send word to its Lord while she couldn't keep a better eye on it. And it had been Roman's job to inform her on such actions.

' _That useless bastard…'_ Her mind began to sway as something felt utterly wrong with her body.

A black sludge-like substance began to grow off of Cinder's Aura in small clumps. Soon they began to build up and expand causing her immense pain.

It was consuming her body and Aura at an alarming rate.

Like leeches, they continued to drain her strength as Abell stood up and looked down at her. She hated how weak she felt and the man before her as she tried to think of how he had managed to do this to her.

It wasn't long before she came to the realization that it wasthe first and only time she had met the Ashen Lord in person that he had infected her with this… this poison. She specifically recalled when the Lord had offered his hand to her as a means to break the ice.

And she had been the fool to shake it.

" **I do appreciate your help in completing the first sister; so please take this new form as my** _ **humble gratitude**_ **."** His words rolled off the tongue with ease despite the golem not possessing 's hate filled eyes forced themselves to meet those of the burning orange coals that were the golem's as she attempted speaking.

"…n-new for-m…?" The sludge was covering her entire lower half now and most of her abdomen as the golem chuckled once more.

" **Yes dear Witch, your new form. It will not be your current lustful one, but rather that of an Abyss abomination. It wasn't a pleasure working with you Cinder Fall."**

He paused for a moment before blandly stating, **"You know, you have quite the ironic name. 'Cinder** _ **Falls**_ **' has a rather nice ring to it does it not? Given the situation of course."**

"…no…" With that last uttered word Cinder had been completely consumed by the black sludge before it began to pulsate and quiver. The others had been too stunned by what they were witnessing to take action until the bright glow of the Fall Maiden's power burst through the back of what used to be Cinder Fall.

And before anyone of them could react Abell's golem burst into nothing but ash and rock before covering up the Maiden's power. It reformed soon enough and now held a brightly orange glow in its chest as a result.

Like a caged animal the Maiden's power tried to escape, but through whatever dark magic Abell used the golem's chest secured it.

Ozpin took note of the black ring of fire that surrounded the Maiden's soul.

"I will not allow you to hold that power." Ozpin charged the reformed golem, but it had already dispersed into nothing but ashes before his cane could strike. "Damn it." He muttered to himself before having to raise his cane up in defense to block the… he wasn't sure what the hell he was facing, but it was neither human nor Grimm.

The remains of Cinder Fall came alive before taking shape of some large, withering beast that forced him back.

Its head most resembled a snake as two boney arms each the size of a small Ursa burst from either side of the black sludge. They looked almost human, but only counting three fingers on each hand along with how the large snake-like head acting as an odd third limb had him thinking otherwise.

Multiple white eyes appeared just beneath the 'skin' of the head as they focused at first him and then his two students.

"Mr. Arc! Grab Ms. Nikos and go after him!"

Jaune was currently helping Pyrrha out of the pod before looking over to him as Ozpin blocked yet another strike from the abomination. It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder and when he turned to face his partner she had a determined look in her emerald eyes.

"We need to go Jaune." They didn't waste another second as they rushed past Ozpin and what was left of Cinder. It made a lunge for them, but the Headmaster was a blur as he shielded them from the attack.

Small wisps of white smoke emitted from where the skin made contact with his shield. He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing as he saw both his students made it to the elevator.

Ozpin gritted his teeth when the once-human rose to its full height. Easily towering over his by a good six feet his Aura flared to block the abomination's next strike.

…

"Look out!" Neptune ducked behind cover yet again as two arrows flew past where his head was seconds ago. The shaken boy was still recovering from what had happened at Amity, and it was becoming a hindrance for the others as this was the third time Weiss had to warn him.

"T-Thanks Weiss. Looks like I owe you another one. Heh…" He tried putting on his signature 'cool' smile, but it looked strained to the heiress as she ignored him to freeze three more Black Knights from attacking a group of transfer students.

She didn't stop there as a white glyph appeared beneath her, boosting her towards another approaching wave of Grimm.

It was then a stray arrow clipped her thigh causing her to lose her balance.

Looking up she got Myrtenaster up just in time to pierce through a Beowolf's open maw. Saliva dripped down atop her wrist which had the Schnee disgusted as her weapon was pulled free.

Unfortunately the Grimm's body slowly decaying corpse fell atop her, quickly trapping her beneath its weight. Trying to push the hefty mass off her Weiss was having a difficult time as she slowly pried herself free.

She was a little too slow it seemed as more Grimm quickly closed the distance and were upon her, but the loud ringing of a familiar gatling gun tore through them with ease.

Nodding her thanks to Coco, Weiss was back up on her feet before hearing an alarmed shout come from Sun across the courtyard.

Neptune had been knocked down by one of those golem monstrosities while Sun tried to help his friend up. Unlucky for him the same golem took a similar position to that of a golfer before swinging its massive axe upwards.

The monkey Faunus was sent soaring before crashing into the Beacon statue.

Neither of them got back up as Weiss called for the others to engage the golem as a priority target.

The roar of Coco's gun sounded soon after, but the golem was well protected by its shield proving them ineffective. Weiss had the feeling that even without the shield, its skin would be hard enough to withstand the barrage of bullets.

"Well, guess this is as good a time as any. Velvet!" The bunny Faunus in question turned to her leader with a sparkle in her eyes that reminded Weiss a little too much of Ruby when they all started practicing team attacks.

"Really?!" The excitement in her voice didn't seem proper in the current situation they were in, but it was welcome nonetheless.

"Just make'em count."

With a final nod Weiss watched with concern as Velvet confronted the Ashen golem with no visible weapon in sight. She grew even more so when a second golem approached them as well.

"What are you doing? She's going to get hurt!" It was directed at Coco as the brunet cocked a smile before saying, "Just watch."

It was then Weiss' eyes widened when an exact copy of Crescent Rose formed from seemingly thin air. Velvet gripped the long hilt of Ruby's signature weapon as she boldly starred down the golem that had taken out Sun and Neptune.

The colossal humanoid ran at her trying to bring its axe in an overhead swing down atop her. Velvet leap high into the air as the Greataxe cracked the stone beneath it, and to Weiss' continued surprise, Velvet held the same pose as Ruby did before delivering a heavy downwards cut.

The golem reared back in time to avoid losing its hand, but in the process had lost the weapon instead. Holding nothing now but a pole, the golem made an inaudible noise as it tried stepping on Velvet like one would an insect.

Again to her disbelief, Weiss watched as Velvet drew forth a materialized version of Myrtenaster before deflecting the golem's foot with a focused dust charge. Off-balance, but not toppled over, the golem tried recovering.

Velvet wasn't about to let that happen as copies of Ember Celica formed across her wrists as she fired a few shots at the golem's wobbling form. To its credit it managed to use the once Greataxes' pole to keep balance, if only momentarily, but that didn't stop Velvet.

Switching to Gambol Shroud in an instant she performed a maneuver that even Blake had some difficulties with at times.

When it had rocked itself forwards the golem attempted to swing the pole in hopes of knocking Velvet away, but she used this to her advantage by grabbing hold to the end of it.

By the time it made it to the end of the swing the golem's legs had already been tangled up by whatever was powering Velvet's weapons. All it took then was for her to pull hard on Gambol shroud before the monstrosity finally lost the battle of balance and fell over onto its side.

Coming to the aid of its ally the second golem attempted to chop Velvet in two, but the girl was faster and in one move the second golem had lost its hand.

The long blade of Gambol Shroud was then thrown into its chest, but it showed no visible effects to the golem save for a deep gash. The golem reeled back however as it soon found two great arrows imbedded into its chest as well.

Weiss couldn't ever recall really seeing Tyrell use his bow outside of the school, and least of all in front of Velvet. But there she was holding an exact copy of their friend's Greatbow as a third arrow was loosed right through the golem's right shoulder.

Such a clean shot actually had the entire arm crumpling off as rock and ash bled from the wound profusely. More inhuman noises escaped the now unarmed golem as it made a mad dash to kill Velvet.

Using its other arm it collided with the newly formed Magnhild sending its remaining arm into the ground. Temporarily stunned Velvet ran up along its back before delivering a heavy blow directly to its head.

Despite all the damage it took the golem tried rising, but it would be too late as Velvet revealed her trump card.

Penny's swords formed behind Velvet as she jumped off the golem's back and beneath its two legs. In a matter of seconds those swords cut right through each column that made up its legs forever crippling the massive humanoid.

Each sword formed a circle in front of her before spinning rapidly as a blue ball of energy began forming in the center. It rapidly grew in size before condensing itself as Velvet took one last look at the golem before unleashing a powerful energy beam.

Nothing but ashes remained.

Weiss noticed how heavily she was breathing from what must have been a large amount of stress on her body.

Before she could get out a warning, that moment of vulnerability allowed the first golem to successfully trap Velvet beneath its foot. She cried out in pain as the golem increased the weight, and even as Coco tried shooting it the bullets harmlessly bounced off its shield.

The same shield lifted above the poor girl as Weiss ran to her as fast as she could, but it was already far too late.

The golem slammed the bottom of its shield down right onto Velvet's spine.

An audible crunch could just be heard, but to Weiss it was like a gun being fired right next to her.

"AAUUGGggghhhh!" She cried out in what must have been an excruciating amount of pain as her body visibly began to shake and twitch. The poor girl's eyes rolled up to the back of her head before she blacked out.

Weiss doubled her efforts as white glyphs appeared to further her speed as the shield lifted up to finish the job.

It came crashing back down.

Weiss' eyes were shut as she had been directly beneath the towering golem as its shield had come down, and when she opened her eyes a new sight greeted her.

A long, pale silver sword was blocking the shield from coming down any further.

It struggled little as the silver gauntlet wielding the sword directed the shield aside into the ground directly next to them. The phantom wasted no time in swinging the sword back around to decapitate the golem before it could even have time to react.

Weiss watched as the mighty golem fell, and just like the Grimm its ashes were spread to the wind.

Coco had come rushing over a moment later as the phantom arm disappeared back into the glyph it had come from. Weiss watched the space the arm had occupied until her attention was drawn back to Velvet.

They couldn't move her to the infirmary without the risk of making her injuries worse, but thank whatever gods were out there as Yatsuhashi came sprinting over. He immediately began treating Velvet as best he could without making things worse, and until they could safely move her they would need to keep her there.

So it didn't help when Weiss looked up from Velvet to see one of Atlas' upgraded Paladins charging right towards them.

' _Where's Yang when you need her?'_

…

Ruby felt the presence of fear creep up within her as she hung by a thread, or a scythe really, off the side of one of General Ironwood's ships.

Her grip on her weapon was strong however even as the roaring winds caused her entire body to shake. The thumping of an approaching cane along with the smug remarks of Roman Torchwick told Ruby that he drew closer.

But it wasn't his cane that had her worried though.

Neo must have drawn her knife as a long ear-racking screech could be just heard above the howls of the circling Gryphons.

Looking up to meet the shifting eye colors of the short henchwoman, Ruby could only listen to Roman tell his spiel as he came up alongside Neo.

"The people that hired me are going to change this world. You can't stop them. _I_ can't stop them. And as the old saying goes…" It was then that she took notice of the button along the shaft of Neo's weapon, and what could be her only chance to escape.

"If you can't beat them-." The rest of what Roman was about to say was cut off as Ruby quickly pushed the button before either of them could react. The wind did the rest of the work for her as the illusionist was carried off into the swirling storm of feathers, fangs, and claws.

"Neo!"

"I don't care what you say. We will stop them, and I will stop you. Bet on that!" Activating her semblance Ruby quickly closed the gap between them both, but Roman was ready for her.

Throwing her off by actually _throwing_ one of his cane's grenades at her, Ruby was knocked back along the hard metal hull of the ship.

"You got spirit Red. But this is the real world!" Kicking her back down Roman then proceeded to smack Melodic Cudgel right across her defenseless frame. "The real world is cold! The real world doesn't care about spirit!"

Before he could hit her again Ruby kicked out for his legs forcing him back. When she saw his eyes it wouldn't be the first time she saw the anger surface over his usual suave appearance.

"You want to play the hero?! Then play your part and _die_ like every other Huntsman in history!" She wasn't fast enough to dodge his next swing that caught her right in the jaw.

The small ringing in her ears and the rush of wind didn't allow her to hear the beating of wings so close by.

"As for me… I'll do what I do best. Lie, steal, cheat, and _survive_!" Not even a second had passed by before the largest clawed foot Ruby had ever seen smashed down atop the infamous criminal.

Ruby could only look on in stunned silence as two of the three clawed toes had completely gone right through the man's body. It was only when the creature snorted did she slowly look up.

She paled as white as her partner's hair just then.

Larger than any known Grimm that she had ever read about stood what must have been a three stories tall dragon!

The only way she could describe it as one was the scales that reflected the pale moonlight off its back along with the two wings that now rested along its sides. The shape of its head even matched the drawings of dragons that were only supposed to be in Grimm tales used to scare children.

Ruby stood there petrified as all _three_ of its eyes focused down to look at her, and she couldn't help but look back into its single, orange orb at the tip of its crown.

"Whoopsie! Didn't see him there." A chirpy female voice shouted out over the winds. It was then that Ruby managed to tear her eyes away from the dragon for a second before looking at the tiny figure perched on its back.

A far above normally sized hat covered most of the woman's face, but Ruby could just make out a single white beak poking in and out from underneath. This woman wore what looked to be an old leather brown trench coat and matching gloves and pants.

A crazy looking staff was strapped to the woman's back, but Ruby couldn't get a real good look at it before she suddenly screamed.

"AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHH! Look out below it's a big black dragon! Tremble in fear of one of milord's most deadly weapons as she rains down fire upon your kingdom! Beware the might of Mel and Kal! The destructors of-!"

"Will you please stop?!" Ruby surprised herself when the words left her lips as the strange woman stopped mid-sentence and finally seemed to take note of the red caped girl below.

"Oh hello little soul! Didn't see you down there. Hey do you know where a Rowan Torkwake is by any chance?" Ruby honestly felt surprised when the woman didn't know that she had just killed mentioned criminal beneath what was presumably her own dragon.

Ruby awkwardly pointed down at Kal's foot and when the masked woman checked she gave Ruby thumbs up before saying, "Thanks! Now that's one less betrayal we need to worry about now. Unfortunately now I'm going to have to kill you."

Ruby was about to try and go for Crescent Rose when the dragon reared its head back, black fire burning in the back of its throat ready to melt her bones.

It was then the woman suddenly punched the side of Kal's neck and shouted at it to stop. She then proceeded to whine saying, "Ooohhh I'm glad that our gracious Lord is allowing such a cute little girl to live, but now I'm mad since I won't get to kill you either."

Taking a disappointed sigh the woman then said, "Well I guess I'll have to settle for extracting your soul and getting to poke at it a little, but that fun will just have to come later I guess. Well gotta go now. Toodles!"

And just like that the black dragon tested its wings once before leaping off the side of the ship as Ruby ran towards the edge to watch it fly off towards Beacon.

Wasting no time grabbing hold of Crescent Rose, Ruby began making her descent back down to Vale as a very scary thought passed through her mind.

That woman reminded her too much of Nora to be allowed to control a real life dragon.

…

While her teammates were fighting for their lives against Grimm, White Fang, and these charred soldiers Blake Belladonna was at the mercy of her former lover.

Adam Taurus almost never smiled, but to see the crooked grin that fixed itself onto his face had Blake going pale. The blood leaking from the fresh wound on her side didn't help either as the auditorium, along with the rest of Beacon, went up in flames.

"This would have been our day Blake! We were supposed to ignite the fires of revolution together!" The smile soon slipped off as a deep snarl replaced it instead. "But then you ran away like a coward."

The pain she was in was too much for her to make a response at the moment. Taking her silence as a signal for him to continue Adam went on.

"Well it doesn't matter anymore, because all I want is you Blake. And as I set out upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so _greatly_ deserves; I will make it my sole mission to eliminate everything you hold dear."

"I'll never be yours." Her voice was low and weak, just barely audible over the chaos as Adam's hearing picked up the message. Blake saw the scowl forming even with the mask on as he too whispered, "You will."

Raising Wilt and Blush above him the blade began to glow that terrible, blood red as he prepared to kill her. For a moment her life flashed before her eyes, but it only went so far back to the times she was just a small, unheard Faunus waving around a picket sign in protest.

A few tears ran down her cheeks as she briefly saw the moments of both love and hardships she and her team had faced throughout their time here at Beacon. They were the family that she never had, and she was grateful for them every day.

So it was when she heard the sound of Yang's gloves firing off that her eyes widened in fear as her best friend soared through the air in all her blazing glory. Those once lilac eyes were replaced with the same blood red that enveloped Adam's blade as he turned to face her.

"…No." It was so weak and low that even she questioned if she had even whispered the word. But it didn't matter in the end as time seemed to slow down for her.

All it took was just one, swift movement of his blade.

She only watched in horror as a bisected Yang flew right over her head and into an unmoving pile behind her. Blake prayed she was unconscious as Adam slowly walked over to finish the job.

Forcing herself up Blake threw herself atop her partner to guard Yang in a last attempt to save her friend's life. She was trying to call up a clone to fool Adam to buy them enough time to escape, but her Aura was too exhausted to conjure one up.

"Why must you hurt me Blake?" There was a kind of deadness in his voice as he didn't hesitate to raise his sword once more.

Adam didn't waste a second to decapitate his love.

That was what was meant to happen, but none of them considered the unknown variable that had made itself known just then.

" **Both these girls have special roles to play in their future if my Lord's plan is to come to fruition. They both must live to fulfill it."**

When Blake opened her eyes again it was to see the struggling red blade of Wilt and Blush against a long, slender black steel of a katana that was currently protecting both her and Yang.

She looked to her and Yang's savior to see a man in full armor that held an Eastern design.

It was unlike anything that she had ever seen a Hunter wear before, but oddly unique as the long piece of maroon cloth that sprouted from his helmet flowed gently in a phantom wind. Or maybe that was just her imagination as his head barely turned in her direction.

" **Run child."** His voice too held an accent to it that she had never heard before, but she didn't need to be told twice as she grabbed Yang and ran.

"What are you doing?!" Adam shouted at Alonne as his love was running away from him once more. "Blake!"

" **The girl is no longer your concern half-man. Besides, you have more pressing matters that you should worry about."** Alonne's voice was calm as he spoke, and before Adam could try to attack his earpiece cracked to life.

The voice of one of his lieutenants came through the earpiece as the panicked voice shouted, _"Adam! Grimm are sprouting out from the ground and attacking us specifically! Abell's forces are-"_ Static then filled the earpiece for a moment before the voice returned.

" _Abell's forces are in control of the Grimm and turning on us! Oh god-"_ More static followed as he got more and more calls from his people as they were being slaughtered by Abell's men.

His knuckles turned white as his grip tightened around the hilt of his weapon as the screams of Adam's people dying by the human Lord's men sang out.

He lunged when only the sound of marching metal boots and claws filled his ears.

"Filthy humans! You will pay for your sins and betrayal against us!"

Blades struggled for supremacy against one other, but Alonne soon broke off the stalemate by kicking Adam away. Putting good distance between them Alonne dashed forward far faster than any normal man could.

It was just by an inch that Adam managed to block the blow.

Alonne didn't cease his attacks as he danced around Adam landing a few hits here and there, but he needed one clean cut to finish this man-beast off. His opponent wasn't a pushover either as Alonne suffered a sharp elbow to jaw.

It would have been dislocated if it wasn't for his armor protecting him, but that wouldn't stop the bruise that would surface. His foe had this 'Aura' that his Lord and the witch had mentioned, but he didn't think it would be this strong to break.

But Alonne had the upper hand in agility it seemed as he was managing to move faster than Adam could keep up with.

From his quick observation his opponent seemed to prefer fighting on his left side, thus keeping his right guard a little less protected. Feigning a dash to his left Alonne was fortunate his opponent's temper was flared as he didn't see the simple trick in time to defend.

A solid thrust of his katana cut through his opponent's right side and Alonne could feel the blade begin to react to the blood it tasted.

His Bewitched blade began to shroud itself in a red and black aura.

Adam was surprised in this small transformation of Alonne's sword, but it didn't matter as he began to charge up his Semblance for one final strike to kill the traitor.

They each sat in silence for a moment, waiting to see if the other would be the first to attack. When neither moved Adam finally grew impatient as he rushed the Wanderer.

Just as he was about to unleash his Semblance upon the unfortunate human, his acute hearing allowed him to hear the last line whispered by the Wanderer.

" **Anything to not see him cry again."**

They were the last words Adam heard as the superior movement by Alonne allowed him to strike before Adam. The Bewitched katana blade sliced through him like paper as it made a clean cut across his chest.

Adam fell over onto the floor and before he could try to bring himself up he felt his weapon being kicked away before Alonne dragged Adam up by the collar.

No final words by the Wanderer were said as he slit the throat of the half-man, silencing him forever.

As a final farewell to the leader of the White Fang, Alonne gave a slight bow of his head to the fallen warrior before leaving to aid his Lord's forces in the fall of Beacon.

But the Wanderer knew the cost of using his Bewitched blade as a small part of which who he once was became one with the cursed sword forever.

Further binding him to its ever growing hold over him that much deeper.

…

He stood atop Beacon tower like a statue.

A silent watcher to the hundreds of deaths and battles raging throughout this foreign kingdom as his armies slaughtered all that stood in his way. Each soul lost, every innocent, soldier, hunter and knight was to further bring him closer to his goal.

Footsteps sounded behind him as the Ashen Lord turned to see his golem return with the sole reason for this entire attack.

He wasted no time to observe the soul of the first sister save for the orange tinge glow emitting from the golem's chest. It burned like any other flame that he had observed, but he knew better than to assume this one to be like any random soul.

Summoning the portal back to Hedrikon he let the lifeless ash and rock go ahead of him as he made to follow through. Though the sound of screeching metal followed with a loud crash had him turning back around out of curiosity alone.

Standing there with Milo and Akouo at the ready Pyrrha Nikos leveled her gaze with Abell.

Another brave hero was it then?

It mattered little to him as the golem had made it through the portal already, and he had yet to partake in the festivities as of yet.

" **I can indulge myself for a while."** His tone was almost casual as though he was talking with a close friend, but it had the girl on guard as she sent a glare his way.

"Why?"

A small question that could have been connected to a number of things, but none of which the Ashen Lord knew the girl was inquiring about.

"What reason did you have to kill him?" She went on as he made no answer.

A flash of anger could be seen in those emerald orbs as the words left her lips, and his eyes narrowed as he recalled just who she was talking about.

" **One out of both pity and kindness young one. His soul had been corrupted by the disease that every natural inhabitant of mankind possesses on this world."** Abell brought his shield across his back as he gripped his halberd with both hands.

Brief confusion lined the girl's face as he observed the crease in her brow before the mask of calm, hidden anger was placed on once more.

She didn't charge like he had expected her to, but had rather thrown her shield at him instead forcing him to roll out of the way. He slammed the short sword down into the rubble as that had flown his way next.

Her shield was back in her possession along with her weapon as they quickly were pulled back to her. Whether it was through the otherworldly power of Aura, or some unknown magic yet foreign to him Abell did not know nor care.

Adapting quickly he brought the heavy overhead swing of his blade down atop her that was blocked before he jumped away from the point of the short sword.

When she was on him again he was at a disadvantage when she pushed into his guard. Taking a quick cut across his chest his armor held true before he kicked out at her abdomen with enough force to send her back a few steps, but he didn't let her recover as he brought the shaft of the halberd around the back of her head.

Quickly ramming it into the back of her skull left Pyrrha dazed for a second allowing him to grab the upper hand. Leaping into the air Abell brought the black blade down atop the girl once more, but her recovery was faster than he first predicted.

She blocked with her shield before taking two more swings at him, but he made it out before she could take a third. Changing tactics he brought forth his shield that blocked the thrown short sword.

Before she could retrieve her weapon once more Abell brought forth his shield to uppercut her right in the jaw. Lifting her up off the ground over his shield Abell charged her right into one of the broken office walls.

The girl's legs acted like a spring then which allowed her to push herself off the wall sending both of them flying across the floor. He righted himself before he could fall on his ass like she most likely had anticipated.

Right back into the fray both exchanged blow after blow, but slowly she had gained the advantage through how much faster her weapon could move.

He needed to get her off him if he was going to survive, and soon as she knocked his shield away. Assuming a chokehold he was forced to drop his halberd to keep her blade from slitting his throat. His back was arched and strained which prevented him from trying to kick her legs out from beneath her.

If not for the position he could have tried overpowering her through strength alone, but doing so ran the risk of leaving him chocking on his own blood.

Having enough of this Abell stood still, almost submissive to his opponent, as he concentrated as best he could while holding her off.

Abell's eyes glowed a dark, burning orange for the first time since he had stepped foot on this world. The darkness that hid his face beneath his helm filled with the dark light as he bashed his head right into the girl's.

"Aaaauugh!" Pyrrha was forced to let go of him as she tried cradling her now bleeding left eye. One of the horns adorning his helm had succeeded in his endeavor as he quickly retrieved his halberd while discarding the shield.

He did not advance as an ashen Black Knight Greatsword rose from the ground beneath his feet. Laying his prized weapon along his back he made for the ashen weapon instead.

Pyrrha, through her blurred and restricted vision, just barely managed to block a single swing from the gigantic weapon. She was continuously being forced back as Abell advanced on her with every step.

Every swing a new weapon replaced the previous.

From swords, to axes, to even spears Pyrrha was weakened with every blocked attack. At some point she had dropped her sword as she heard it clatter to the ground not too long ago, and she was trying to get it back in her hand.

Abell discarded the ashes aside as he brought his halberd back into both hands. Rearing it back for only a second he swung not once, not twice, but three consecutive times in one long spinning attack.

The third blow had turned into an overhead swing that bore down onto the disabled woman. It was enough to crack her shield apart as both useless pieces of her weapon fell to the ground with a dull clatter.

Just like her shield had broken, so too did her Aura.

Still he held no mercy as he struck her side hard with the heavy blade before tearing open her shoulder with a strong overhead hit. The agony had her reeling as she clutched the wound trying to apply pressure to ease the bleeding.

Looking up from the ground she saw into the illuminated orange eyes that seemed to freeze her in place. Darkness began to creep along the sides of her vision as Abell raised his halberd up once more over her.

From what she observed blood seeped out from the parts she had broken past as it struck her that this man held no Aura just like Tyrell. A thought struck her then as it seemed she managed to piece some of the pieces together.

Did every one of them not have their own unlocked?

Her mind was brought back to the situation at hand as Abell spoke in a calm, but seemingly stressed voice.

" **Any last words young one?"**

Pyrrha felt no fear as she propped herself up on her knees looking defiantly into those eyes.

"Do you believe in destiny?"

To her it was destiny that had brought her to Beacon in the first place. It was what allowed her to make so many wonderful friends during her time here. And it even allowed her to meet Jaune Arc whom she would always hold a special place for in her heart.

Even in death.

" **No… I choose to believe that one's fate can be rewritten by the very power of their own soul."** The halberd rose just a bit higher before being brought down in one swift motion.

But it never reached her neck as the pointed tip of Milo protruded from Abell's chest. Crimson blood stained the red and gold blade as time seemed to freeze for the both of them.

But she hadn't stopped there.

Using what little energy she had left in her body Pyrrha lifted Ozpin's desk above the stunned Lord before, without another breath, brought it crashing down. Glass, metal, and wood shattered atop him as only the top half of Abell could be seen while the rest was left buried beneath the broken desk.

Pyrrha slowly stepped over towards the unmoving Lord with caution, but when he did not stir she went to retrieve Milo from his corpse. Pyrrha kneeled down low enough to retrieve the weapon as her fingers wrapped around the hilt of the blade.

It was her first and last mistake.

The unmoving fingers of Abell twitched with life as they shot forward fast enough to catch her by the neck. She couldn't even scream, but rather watch as the red and black aura covering his hand ate away at her.

The sensation it left her wasn't that of drained in the sense of one just having no energy, but rather she felt drained of _life_.

Pyrrha couldn't even stand on her feet anymore as the Ashen Lord slowly rose from what should have been a fatal crush to someone without Aura. Even with armor it would amount to nothing to stopping something like a several hundred pound desk slamming down on top of someone.

Having to lay defenseless on the floor she could barely look up at Abell as his words were muffled by the ringing in her ears. The same trick had been used to sap Tyrell of his strength, and it left her nearly a husk it felt like.

All she could see was the glint of a long dagger being unsheathed from behind the Ashen Lord.

From what she could tell it had a long hilt and its blade held a slight curve near the tip, but other than that she couldn't see anything distinct about it.

The last sensation she felt as her eyes slowly dimmed shut was that of the cold dagger sliding past her bosom and into her heart.

Then everything faded away into dust.

Abell didn't even have to pull the dagger out as Pyrrha's form faded away into thousands of dust particles scattered by the wind. No souls flourished into him as he silently inspected the bronze headpiece before gently setting it down where she had been moments ago.

Nothing but a crown covered in dust remained of the Invincible Girl.

That and the memories her comrades would hold of her he supposed, but then again, since when has keeping one's memory alive remove the pain they leave inflicted on you?

Abell stared at the lonely crown for what felt like an age, contemplating the amount of pain he has so far inflicted not only to this girl's comrades, but to Remnant's people as a whole.

He did not arrive at the conclusion as he sensed the soul of the young Rose behind him. Abell contemplated not putting up his guard as he felt no hostility coming from the young soul as she fell to her knees.

Not because of him, but of what he had done to her friend.

The Ashen Lord then saw why no such hated feeling emitted from the girl. Her soul practically _radiated_ nearly every negative feeling known to man.

Sadness. Grief. Disbelief. Dread. _Fear_.

They continued on and on as Abell slowly approached the young Rose. He spotted tears running down her pale cheeks as her voice, just barely above a whisper, croaked a single, "No…"

It was then that a thunderous screech shook the entire tower as that Grimm-Dragon from earlier widely thrashed around below. Figuring that the beast had been under the Witch's control it now ran rampant throughout Beacon.

Abell watched from high above the Headmaster's tower, just as the now dead _Gods_ had when they watched his people suffer from atop their Golden city.

As if sensing his gaze the Grimm-Dragon craned its neck up to look into Abell's own before letting out another screech. Testing its wings the oversized Grimm flew itself up to where they both were in a matter of a minute.

It craned its head to get a better look at the Lord as the young Rose went ignored.

Abell could have sworn he heard her whisper something as it drew its head back, jaws wide open revealing slightly curved teeth meant for tearing skin. With the size difference it would chomp him in two, but it never got the chance as Abell readied his ash.

For it was not the Ashen Lord that had put a stop to the wild Grimm, but the small girl only a few feet away crying out the name of her fallen comrade. Her eyes glowed just as Abell's did when he used his ash, but only the Rose's seemed much stronger in comparison.

If the way he was blinded by the silver light was any indication.

He just barely managed to erect a barrier of ash around himself before the light could harm him. But he must not have been fast enough as an icy hand just grazed his very soul.

The painful screams of the Grimm-Dragon was all he heard as the Abyss took him.

When he awoke he was lying face down in the ashes that he had used to shield himself from… whatever the hell that had been.

He groaned as he shakily got himself up.

Both ash and dust clung and fell from his armor as he steadied himself with his weapon. Not even his shield could fully protect him it seemed, if the way his very soul felt as though it was touched by ice.

His body still shook from the shock of that cold touch that reached far enough to tickle the humanity that was embedded within his own bosom.

Abell slowly took in his surroundings to find that he was still atop the Headmaster's tower. A low groan came from not that far as the Lord spotted the form of the young Rose lying unconscious where she had been when that light had blinded him.

Using his halberd as a makeshift cane Abell made his way over to the unconscious Rose. Whatever the force behind that light had been was enough to kick up his ashes high enough for them to gently fall back down atop him.

Like snowfall, the ashes drifted from the pale grey sky slowly covering both of them. It barely looked like the tower that the Witch had shown him once during their initial meeting.

It was a mere husk of what it used to be. A hollow shell without a purpose now as his crunching footsteps made the only sound.

' _Just like that other world. Forever locked away within that beautiful painting._ _ **'**_ A faint voice whispered into his ear, but he forced it back within the dark corners of his mind.

He would not think of that place. Nor of the woman in white that guarded such beauty.

Abell nearly fell over as he steadied himself into a kneeling position besides the young Rose. Her eyes were closed and not likely to open soon, but he took note of the way her chest slowly rose and fell.

' _ **Alive.'**_ He thought with neutral feeling as he gazed once more into the soul of this young warrior. It burned a bright gold that outshined even her comrade that he had slayed, but it was nowhere even close to that of the Headmaster's or even the Witch's own soul.

Despite how twisted and dark each had been.

But this girl's soul was the very reason he had Mel stay her hand when she had confronted her atop that metal goliath.

For it was what this soul would grow into that would help him secure his goal in keeping a permanent kingdom on this world for his people. But he would not place all his faith in this one girl to reach that goal one day.

That was why he chose three others to keep alive to see if they would yield the fruits of his labor.

The voice spoke once more. It asked him what would happen if each of them had failed to become what he needed them to be. The croaked voice whispered in his head about killing them all now and combining the souls to meet his goal.

Forcing it back once more Abell knew that one of these souls would provide him with the power he would need.

Before he could shut it out once more it managed to ask one last question.

' _And how far do you plan to push them to reach that goal?_ _ **'**_

The Ashen Lord looked out at the pale gray sky, suggesting that dawn must have just broke, as thick plumes of black smoke rose to mix in with that sky. He observed his legions work as the black firebombs rained down atop the kingdom of Vale.

Abell stood by as his Black Knights burned Vale and her people to the ground.

Gently picking up the unconscious girl, he had just enough left in him to perform one last deed.

Walking closer and closer to the edge, Abell barely paid any attention to the frozen stone Grimm-Dragon as he looked down at the fatal plunge. The girl had not once began to slip out of his grasp as he looked to see smaller versions of those metal beasts retreating as both Grimm and his Black Knights swarmed into Beacon.

Taking one last look at her he couldn't help but note the striking resemblance she held to Rhea.

He recalled the maiden faintly as he had rescued her from Nito's light-devouring domain, and put an end to both her companions/guards when they had hollowed.

Then visiting her in the church where he and another warrior had fought the old Gargoyles atop the roof. Only for him to find her missing when he had returned and even further along in his journey he saw what remained of her in the Duke's Archives.

It was a swift death he gifted her.

" **So young and hopeful. Full of life and purpose, but I will leave you with one piece of advice before we meet again young Rose."** Abell took one last look down as the marching feet and claws of his armies filed into Beacon along with searching for enemy survivors and the wounded.

" **When one loses their purpose in life, they stop living within their mortal body. For that one purpose they held so dearly, when it is stripped away from them either by their own hand or another, they will hollow. A mindless shell of their former self that will continue living on without any purpose or desire."**

He leaned in a little closer then as he whispered to her, **"And when your time comes. When your purpose for continuing to exist in this world is snuffed out like a tiny flame. Know that it will be** _ **I**_ **who will be the one to extinguish that flame."**

Just before he dropped her off into the awaiting portal below he uttered one last thing into her ear.

" **You will hollow like the rest of us."**

…

He had come to accept his prison after some time that he no longer could recall, but yet that small part of him still resisted the Dark. Every time he awoke he would feel the pain of a thousand lashes dealt by a notched whip.

His vision would go blurry as the little dregs tortured him for eternity and only a minuteat the same time. His mind had endured too much to make even a scrap of sense of his situation as the dark roots of the dead Great Hollow tightened around his body while the dregs laughed, cried, whispered, and screamed at him.

Neither the dregs nor the Great Hollow could draw out his screams any further as his throat had all but dried up by now. He could only emit a deep croaking sound that made a few dregs laugh while others backed away from him.

Fear perhaps.

There were times when even the dark spirits plaguing his life drew away into the quiet Abyss as the Creator made himself known. But they did not draw away out of fear, but respect for their master.

He would have spit in his direction if his tongue hadn't dried up.

The Creator did not speak, or perhaps it was he who couldn't hear as the Creator seemed to sigh after silence filled the atmosphere.

A black sheep in a wolf's hide was what the Creator was.

He looked up at the Creator as he disappeared back into the inky sea that filled his entire vision, but found himself surprised when the Great Hollow did not tighten its grasp over him when the Creator left.

He knew that even the Great Hollow feared something, but he welcomed it with a cracked smile as the Dark Soul appeared before him. Just inches out of his grasp he eventually gave up trying to touch the eternal soul of Man as it spoke to him.

The once dried up husk held so tightly by the Great Hollow was slowly filled up with life. He could just move his tongue and part his lips open to speak as they held up yet another wonderful conversation.

Cycles passed by without either stopping, save for letting the other take their turn to speak.

"Who does the Creator call for?" It was he who spoke as the black and white flame patiently waited for him to finish. For once it was silent for longer than a few moments, and he began to worry if it didn't like him anymore.

Its soothing voice calmed him once more as it reflected a man that he faintly recognized through the flames. He couldn't place a name or anything really on the man save for that the armor looked familiar in some fashion.

The figure wore what looked like angelic armor. With wings adorning his head while a mighty spear and shield were grasped in either hand. But when he was about to question the Dark Soul further the image of the man shifted as he bent over in what looked to be pain.

Fire rained down atop the pained man as he was warped into a demonic entity.

The wings had turned into horns while the spear grew a wicked blade along its tip. He witnessed as the Dark Soul showed the figure finding a tiny black flame before it consumed him whole like the previous fire.

What appeared next had him recoil back in horror.

His bloodshot eyes shut to try and remove the image from his mind, but it appeared no matter how much he tried getting away.

The Dark Soul ceased showing him that _horrid_ creature, and waited patiently for him to get over the visual. Slowly he looked back to the soul of Man with hesitance in his eye as it said soothing words to further comfort him.

After some time he managed to croak out, "Why show me _that_? I do not understand." Sitting quietly once more the Dark Soul showed him images of a world so full of life and death, then another full of only darkness and quiet. Furthermore, it showed him the creature once more.

When he tried looking away the Great Hollow sprung to life and forced him to witness the images from the soul of Man.

Millions of _white_ dregs kneeled before the beast, each with a tiny black flame resting within the heart of each. Then he saw what must have been the Dark Soul sitting within the center of the beast's chest as the image faded back to darkness.

It was then that, a tiny flicker of the man that he once was sparked onto his tongue as he quietly said, "I still hold little understanding of the power you possess, but from what I have now observed… I now see that everything you do is all for your own self preservation."

For the third time the Dark Soul did not respond to him, and this time it disappeared back into the endless void of the Abyss. He was speechless once more as the limbs of the Great Hollow tightened around him once more and he could hear the sounds of the dregs coming back.

Along with the sight of the hungry white eyes of the Abyss abominations as they clawed hungrily for the tiny, orange flame that he still clung to just as the Great Hollow held him.

They couldn't- **wouldn't** have his soul as long as he could resist the hungering Dark that wished to devour what little soul the Creator had left him with.

The slimy, wet little bodies of the dregs were back within his vision now.

And thus the cycle continued once again.

* * *

 **Hey everyone. Sorry that this took me all of October and then some to get up, but it's finally here! I had planned to get this one out before Halloween, but college caught up with me.**

 **Hope everyone had a good Halloween. Next up: Thanksgiving!**

 **Before I end this AN I just want to say that I won't be watching Volume 4 until the entire volume is out so it won't influence my writing. I have a set path for this story and we are now going to be leaving Volume 3 behind come next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Once again thanks to all of you that have stuck with me for this long and have given me your support. Have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	26. Chapter 26

_**The Real Prisoners**_

 _It lay deep within the bowls of the Lord's keep. Only a select few knew of its whereabouts, and they had all been sworn to secrecy lest they face his wrath._

 _No one, not even the Ashen Lord's Knights of Omen, knew why their Lord had spared and brought this relic from the old world. Some say it held the key that had allowed their Lord to ascend to his throne while others whisper rumors about how it leads to another world entirely. Only fools that thought he brought it simply for the décor it offered were often questioned if they were ill._

 _No one truly knew their Lord's reasons for bringing the painting with them when they traversed to their new home, but they never asked._

 _For not even Abell knew his reasons for bringing the Painting of Ariamis._

 _Hidden behind layers of cobble, rock, and ash the great painting lay displayed in a chamber just large enough to house its immense scale._

 _It was the last relic of Anor Londo that had not been burned to the ground back when he had invaded the ancient city. The details held within each individual leaf, rock, and snow that could only be achieved by a true master made it almost lifelike._

 _Abell recalled when he had first visited that cold painted world. The creatures were sick with rot and decay, and they proved hostile again and again._

 _From the bloated, toxic hollows that breathed fireballs to the bird-women that tried pecking his eyes out the painting of Ariamis was always hostile._

 _So why was it that he stood at its base now?_

 _Torches lined up the wall to illuminate the painting as Abell gazed into the cold world that it portrayed._

 _Was it to visit the crossbreed that was the warden of Ariamis whom also guarded the only exit from the painting?_

 _Just as he had done ages ago Abell began to reach out towards the canvas._

 _Could it be just simple curiosity to see what has become of the painted world after so much time has passed?_

 _His armored hand touched down onto the fabric with a fragile gentleness. As though if he didn't the whole thing would burst into flames._

 _A white light began forming around his hand, then his arm and up to his shoulder as he was slowly being sucked into the cold world. The first time he experienced this he had felt hesitance and uneasiness, but now he welcomed the firm grip of whatever power that pulled people into the painting._

 _As he was completely consumed by the painting of Ariamis a final question went through his mind._

 _Would he slaughter every single forlorn creature that took refuge within just so he could have the crossbreed all to himself?_

Abell opened his eyes as the memory was already fading away back into his consciousness. He was lying in his empty bed with only the dagger of that crossbreed held against his chest.

It was cleansed of that young warrior's blood that he killed atop Beacon's ruined tower.

Gently, like any would do with an infant, Abell cradled the dagger closer to him before thinking back to how the flames looked when the Painting of Ariamis burned to the ground before his feet.

…

Father Rinaldor, accompanied by Tolek, walked down the silent halls of what used to be their enemies keep. They passed piles of rubble and broken metal men as they continued their walk throughout what was soon to be Grandahl's new school.

Before they had to all clump together in the limited spaces of their Lord's old keep, and even after they had come to Remnant space was limited.

Renovations were still underway back at Hedrikon, but here in what used to be Beacon things were moving at a slow but steady pace.

It seemed that Tolek was talking while Rinaldor was lost in his thoughts. Glancing her way he kindly asked for her to repeat herself.

A glare was aimed at him by the red-headed woman as she responded, "I had _asked_ why you even wear such a ridiculous mask. Aren't you supposed to be a priest?"

He smiled beneath his oddly fashioned mask as his muffled voice came through, "While it is true that some may find this particular headwear unfit for a man of faith, such as myself," Tolek rolled her eyes at that as Rinaldor motioned to himself, "The knowledge it offers is far more valuable than a little bit of pride in the public eye."

"Just saying it hurts your image to those that follow you is all I'm saying. Not to mention it makes you look like a cult leader." The last part was mumbled, but Rinaldor chuckled lightly at it.

"Better a cultist priest than a mad dog." He fired back and had to duck as an armored glove nearly hit his head. When he looked back he saw a spark in Tolek's eyes that told him a verbal war was about to start.

Just before they could though, the sound of chains clanking together filled their ears. Stepping out into the main courtyard both looked down at the survivors from the Fall of Vale.

They had been working on clearing out the debris from the battles fought here only a few days prior. Their clothing was beginning to stain and darken from working day and night, but that hadn't been a concern of his as of late.

Heavy iron chains linked them together at both the arms and legs to make it easier to catch in case they tried escaping. When Abell's forces laid siege to Beacon they had found survivors on both sides, and Rinaldor made sure that those in need of serious medical attention were treated.

Now Grandahl's prisoners they were being forced to help remake this school that once taught Hunters into one that would teach hexers.

With Tolek taking her battalion back to Hedrikon to recover their own injuries it was Rinaldor and his Crusaders that would need to hold the fort for now. And until replacements arrived to relieve them of their duty he was to be the warden of these prisoners.

Neither of them paid any attention to the glares or looks of rebellion that sparked in a few of the prisoners' eyes, but those were snuffed in an instant when a guarding deacon whipped the air around them.

Sometimes an outburst would break out, but those that did were silenced for good when an armored Crusader came over to break them.

"You know, I never thought a man's legs could break so easily from a single swing of a Great Mace Tolek. Have you?" Rinaldor looked up to the bleak, grey sky that had set in ever since that Grimm Dragon lay frozen atop Beacon tower.

"Not really. Guess these weaklings just aren't as strong as those light bearers are. I mean, I can remember when a basic hollow soldier…" She went on as Rinaldor stopped listening, again. His mind drifted to those that bore the power of the light, or when he compared it to the old world, the strength of flame.

It didn't scare him as much as it should have that they possessed such power.

Of course, those that were captured with that gift were being experimented on before being put to rest.

Rinaldor was no monster, and with his faithful background he felt those with that unholy gift deserved a swift and merciful death. He did find it rather intriguing with how diverse the strength of flame varied within each bearer.

' _Perhaps it deals with how many Grimm they kill?'_ The Grimm didn't possess souls from their understanding, and without one lacked any trace of flame. It was why Abell took a liking to them as much as he did.

There were a few that had killed some of his deacons, but even then he made sure they received a quick death. If only to ensure they couldn't cause any more damage to their ranks.

Tolek mumbled something beside him. Again glancing at her he kindly asked her to repeat herself for him.

"You're too soft Rin." She said with a sigh, and when he didn't speak she went on, "We're still trying to establish a stronger foothold here, and seeing how rebellion still shines in those prisoners eyes is a bad omen."

"What are you suggesting General?" A feral grin took place as she picked up a small rock before holding it up in her hand.

"Their spirits need to be broken before a spark ignites in any one of them. If an ember is allowed to alight, then a flame will be born, and we all know how badly fire can burn." The rock shattered within her grasp with ease before she finished with, " _That_ is why you need to snuff out any hint of a spark."

He thought on it for all but a moment before saying, "I assure you that everything is under both Grandahl's and my control. My followers will ensure that no such thing shall happen, and it is not like losing this place will be any true loss for our Lord."

Rinaldor didn't even have time to move as Tolek slammed him into one of the pillars that kept an overhang standing. Her face promised death and he wouldn't be surprised if her hair were to start spewing the same flames she had just mentioned.

"This was our Lord's second victory over the flame that guards this world, and you are to say that it was unimportant?! Many of our brothers and sisters died to gain ground and many more will die for our Lord if it means even some of us can have a fresh start." Rinaldor kept calm as he looked into the white pupils that sat within the black, depthless eyes that were Tolek's.

Eyes that every one of themheld.

A quiet silence filled the walkway as both stared the other down, and it was he who broke the silence first.

"You say I'm soft General? They should consider themselves lucky for not being prisoners like the ones rotting back in Hedrikon's dungeons." Rinaldor's voice was filled with venom as he whispered to her, "They are lucky to not have to deal with a brute such as you for a warden."

Tolek let him go as that look of anger still held fast, but just as she was about to say something he stopped her.

"How fares your 'prize' back in our beloved new homeland?" Patting himself down he looked up to her as she said, "Don't try and change the subject you-"

Again she was interrupted, but this time by the shrill high voice of her sister Mel.

The sorceress came nearly skipping down the corridor, only not going the full force for the account of the grumbling old man that she was wheeling towards them.

Tolek sent a toothy grin Rinaldor's way before whispering, "We'll finish this conversation later. Mel!" Turning to the sorceress Tolek scooped the comparably smaller woman into her arms while Rinaldor greeted the visibly shaken Grandahl.

"Have a fun ride Headmaster?" Grandahl shot him a glare, but it lost some of its venom on the account that his eyes were still spinning.

"Damn brat nearly gave me a heart attack with all that skipping. How go the repairs for my new school Father?" The wicked priest hummed at the question as Mel began talking Tolek's ear off. Whether the General was annoyed or not was well hidden with how happy she seemed at the moment.

Now that was a bad omen if he's ever seen one.

"The West wing is nearly complete, but will require another two weeks at best. As for the others they are either still buried beneath rubble or have been taken as a 'home' of sorts for the Grimm." The last part was said with distaste as he still felt uneasy with working beside Abell's new pets.

Grandahl repositioned himself to look out at the prisoners. "Come Father. Let me show you something." Nodding both men made their way towards the cliffside of the academy without speaking a word to each other.

Rinaldor raised a brow when he saw how close the old hexer wheeled himself to the edge.

' _It would take only one push…'_ He banished such dangerous thoughts from his mind immediately. Questions would be raised if the new Headmaster was to suddenly disappear, but his time would come soon enough.

"What do you see Father?" Not sure what he meant at first, Grandahl pointed towards the land that separated the academy from the ruins of Vale.

"I see land and a ruined kingdom before us. One that is in need of desperate repair, and yourself Headmaster?" The older man shook his head and mumbled something to himself that Rinaldor didn't catch.

Grandahl hummed as he thought on his own answer. A hand came up to stroke his long, white beard in thought.

"I see what we are capable of Father. All this land now belongs to our Lord and liege, but what I truly see from this scene before us is that we are _conquerors_." Grandahl held a hand out below the ruins of Vale and crushed it within his palm. "This world belongs to us Rinaldor, and all we must do is reach out and take it."

"And what if this world withers and rots like the previous." It was all the more reason that he needed to get his message out, but The Ashen Lord's puppets were everywhere.

Watching.

Grandahl settled back into his wheelchair as a dangerous light filled his eyes as he spoke his next words.

"Then we simply move on to the next world, then the one after that and the one after that."

…

 _ **Two months after the fall…**_

It had been raining the night that he was taken here to this hellhole.

Heavy, thick raindrops were poured down atop his battered body as he recalled being dragged along what felt like a stone path. Lighting cracked its whip while thunder hammered its drums as his semi-conscious vision allowed him to make out distinct shapes all around him.

Humanoid silhouettes flanked him as they kept pace with whatever had been dragging him. Torches were held by a few, but it did little to illuminate their faces thanks to the heavy cloaks they wore to obscure their faces. Their eyes, however, shone brightly like a star in the night sky, but none of them looked down at him.

Trying to crane his neck back he recalled seeing a slightly bigger silhouette riding atop of some dark creature. It had taken him a moment to realize that it was a Nightmare that was pulling him at the time.

Struggling to free himself of the bonds that held him he felt only the response of his organic limb, but not his synthetic one. When he pushed past the dizziness in his head away to look over at the limb he grimaced like he had when he lost it the first time.

Any sparks that could have flown from the wires that limply hung out of the opening had long since been lost. Whether it had been to the rain or that his aura could no longer power it was lost to him as he looked past the synthetic nub to what lay beyond.

A crack of lightning illuminated the sky long enough for him to catch a glimpse of Abell's keep off in the distance. The sheer size of their enemy's fortress told him just how large a threat they were dealing with here.

Every kingdom needed to be warned and prepared if they wanted to avoid another Vale incident.

He needed to warn Ozpin and Glynda as soon as possible.

When the flash faded the keep was once more shrouded in darkness, looking like some great beast ready to devour the world.

" _Speak!_ " A sharp slap brought General Ironwood back to the present as he recalled where he was.

The dungeons deep below Abell's keep.

It had been two months give or take since he had been captured by the enemy and imprisoned. He couldn't be accurate with how long it has been due to the fact that no sunlight could reach down here, and he couldn't find a way out the last time he tried escaping.

"I said speak!" The warden, or temporary one at that, raised his voice at him once more. James winced when the man ran a deep cut across his left knuckle.

When they had found out about his aura they didn't hesitate to be more brutal in his beatings and interrogations. Of course, aura was as much a curse as it was a blessing.

Once they figured out how much he could take before his aura depleted the torturers made sure to leave him alone long enough for some to come back.

They were keeping him alive, but just barely enough to keep him weak.

"I already told you everything I know about aura." He had to wheeze out the answer while looking at an interesting section of the sewage like room. The stone down here turned into a dark, sickly green while a cell door remained open behind the warden.

It was to taunt him into trying to escape again, but Ironwood knew better now with how heavily guarded these cells were. He couldn't see them, but he knew that two of Tolek's men guarded the entrance with one on either side.

The warden's white eyes flashed beneath the red hood he wore.

Two roughly cut eye holes were cut along either side of the black crest of Hedrikon, and the glowing white eyes were the only thing to be seen within. The warden wore black, tattered robes that obscured his entire body.

Brown leather gloves gripped the dagger tightly while the other held a small branding iron. James stopped being curious about how it never went out after being on the receiving end so many times already.

"I know you to be lying to me dear _general_ , and that is not very kind." Ironwood had been a part of interrogations many times, so why did he feel so unnerved by this man's calm demeanor. He knew the answer, but his spirit wasn't yet willing to admit defeat just yet.

When it appeared to the warden that he wouldn't be talking again, he stood up and let out another disappointed sigh. A sound that James was getting used to hearing after some time, but it also meant something else as well.

"Which piece are you willing to part with today dear general?"

James remained silent as he looked down to the shackles that bound his one wrist to the rotting wooden table that sat between them. Large chunks of flesh were missing from his arm all the way up to his shoulder, and they did not heal properly over time.

Leaving large red and black splotches all across his arm when the branding iron was used to seal the wound shut.

The warden moved closer as James prepared himself once more for the pain to come.

After the branding had been done once more, James had been roughly escorted back to his cell. A sack had been pulled over his head to make it even harder for him to try and figure his way out if he made another attempt at freedom.

The only silver lining was that there seemed to be no other prisoners that he could hear, so he could concentrate better on mapping out the dungeons.

Thrown into his cell without a second thought his two guards locked the cell door shut before they began walking away. They wouldn't need to guard him with how weak he currently was, plus the iron bars were reinforced.

Not to mention the Grimm stalking these corridors would hear him even if he tried anything with the door and alert the guards.

It was these times that he now cherished the most for it allowed him to relax and regain what little remained of his former strength. Ironwood's attention was brought to the second body that seemed to also be occupying what was originally only his cell.

The man wore the same tattered rags that he had been forced into, with his trousers being the only exception. An abnormally large hat obscured the man's face, but the slight tilt upwards seemed to indicate that he hadn't been asleep.

"Oh? Yet another prisoner brought in have we?" The man's voice was muffled beneath the oddly sized hat, but could still be heard clearly. He sounded put out, almost bored even with how the rim of the hat tilted back down, but Ironwood wasted no time in walking right up to his new cellmate.

"Are you one of them?" From what he could see of the man's near naked body there were lacerations, bruises and even a few recent scars in places that should have killed this man.

"Another dense one hmm? If how injured I appear to be in wasn't a big enough clue for you then you're as thick as a crystal lizard's hide." The man waved him off, but Ironwood needed answers.

"I meant are you like _them_. From what I've seen every single person in this kingdom has glowing white eyes." James saw it through the helms of the guards, and one time what lay beneath those dark helms.

It was unnatural. They were human, but warped to some degree that he couldn't comprehend.

"I can assure you that I am not one of the Chosen's puppets. He stripped me of my scrap of humanity long before you came here dear Ironwood." He snickered from what must have been the questioning brow James showed, and before he could ask the man stopped him.

"Some of the guards here have loose lips, and no one pays attention to the quiet ones. Well, most of the time anyways." There seemed to be more to tell, but the man wouldn't speak as James asked for his name instead.

"Hmm? My name you ask? I was once known as Big Hat Logan. A master of sorcery and spells whom traveled to Lordran in search of the Pale Drake once known as Seath."

"Once known?"

"Yes. The self-proclaimed 'Lord' stripped me of my name and title when I went against his rule. Now this hat is a reminder to me of what I once was, and hides what has become of me."

It was then that Logan stood up and walked closer to Ironwood. The cell was darker towards the back, but as he approached James' eyes widened once more at seeing how horribly the man burned was.

All his skin hung like leather to his bones and was darkened to a dark maroon color. The rag that barely covered his chest did little to conceal the same scar that he had seen on Tyrell right before Abell had executed him.

Getting a better look at it now he saw how it looked more like a disease than any normal mark or scar.

"He burns his prisoners alive?" Shocked by even the thought of it alone told him that this man was an absolute psychopath. It was all the more reason that he needed to warn Atlas and the rest of Remnant as a whole if they were going to put a stop to this monster.

"No you fool. This is what those that were branded by the Darksign look like without their humanity. Even with the curse broken we're still forced to face the unfortunate reality that it may take a few generations before all traces of the curse fades away. Perhaps mankind will forever look this way? But then how do the people of this world retain their human appearance without…"

Logan continued to ramble on more to himself than James, and he was thankful for that as the man in front of him must have been tortured to the point where his mind began to go.

"Do you find me mad Ironwood?"

James found it a little difficult to look at the man, but he's seen plenty of gruesome wounds to stomach the sight. "You go on about curses and losing your humanity. I have more reason to believe that you gave yourself that title in your deteriorating mind's attempt to make sense of who you once were."

James went to sit on what has been acting as a bed for the last couple of weeks. It was just a wooden board frame being held up to the wall by two rusty iron chains with a thin layer of hay for his comfort.

"All of this, from this dungeon to the man leading this 'kingdom'; you're all just a group of fanatics living in a madhouse. So yes, I do find you more than just mad Logan."

When the man began to chuckle before going on to full out laughter had James positioning himself on the bed to jump away in case the man truly lost it.

"O-oh I haven't had that good of a laugh ever since my last pupil locked himself in a small storeroom." When Logan managed to get a hold of his laughter he put on a more serious front as he smiled at James. "Would you like to hear everything about this kingdom and its Lord?"

He's been starved for any information on Abell or his forces ever since he first met Tyrell, but seeing the source he couldn't tell if it would be credible or not. He didn't have any other options at the moment, and there would be plenty of time to kill it seemed.

"Tell me everything you know."

"First tell me your name… your first that is. Then answer me this question. Do you have people that care for you back from wherever you came from?"

James found the second question a little strange given that they had only just met not even ten minutes ago, but if it meant more information then he could give Logan that.

"My name is James Ironwood, and yes, there are those that are worrying about where I am or even if I'm still alive. I need to get back to them as soon as possible." He said it with such certainty that he knew was true.

He had to get back to Glynda, to Oz.

"Thank you James. Now I will tell you my people's history."

And so the once great mage did.

He told James of the Age of Ancients, where the world was shrouded in a desolate fog ruled over by everlasting dragons. Then came whom would become the future Lord of Sunlight: Gwyn.

Logan told him tales of how Gwyn and his allies defeated the eternal dragons by piercing their immortal scales with bolts of pure lightning. He mentioned how it was Seath, the Pale Drake whom had betrayed his immortal brethren by telling Gwyn of their weakness.

The Lords ruled over the kingdom of Lordran during what was described as the Age of Fire.

However the First Flame, which had granted the Lords' their strength, began to fade away as mankind began to show signs of flourishing. Thus began the age of man, or as some have described it, the Age of Dark.

Resisting the course of nature, Gwyn sacrificed himself to the First Flame to keep it alight, and to prevent the birth of the Dark Lord amongst the humans.

Logan told James of what their world was like after Gwyn had "linked the Fire", and the many hardships of man shortly following afterwards.

"This did not fix anything though. For once Gwyn had committed this great sin, he doomed mankind to a near eternity of constant death and rebirth." Logan shuttered as James went to ask for him to elaborate. "The Curse of the Undead branded many before they even knew it themselves."

Slowly, Logan drew a finger to the grotesque scar that was firmly above his left bosom before whispering, "The Darksign brands all Undead."

"Are you telling me that all of you are immortal?" He didn't believe it, not any of it really, but after seeing what power the Maidens could wield the line between fantasy and reality blurred.

"There is no such thing as true immortality James. Remember that." The man's hat tilted up a bit to reveal a small smirk, but James felt that it was related to something else. "At one point one could say that yes, we were _close_ to immortality, but it wasn't foolproof nor worth the cost."

"What do you mean?"

"True we would not age, need neither sleep nor food, but two things an Undead needed in order to keep their sanity were souls and a purpose to live." Logan sighed as he adjusted himself against the damp stone wall. "Without either one would turn hollow."

"Hollow?" James echoed as Logan nodded in confirmation.

"Just like any other person, if one were to lose their purpose in life then they would become defeated, broken. Same rules apply to any Undead, only this time they lose their mind and become an empty husk that blindly goes around in search of more souls to consume."

The thought troubled James, but he was still having a hard time believing any of this information to be true. "Earlier you said 'Chosen'. Did you mean the leader of this army?"

"Yes. Abell was the Chosen Undead who, as long as he had a bonfire to return to, was as close to as a real immortal would be. He was the one that defeated Gwyn and allowed the First Flame to fade into darkness, but he had only done so under the Primordial Serphants' guiding."

Sensing the question before he could ask it Logan held up a hand to silence James before saying, "No, he is no longer immortal as he forsook that curse when he let the fires fade."

"So he can be killed is what you're saying."

"I don't know. I haven't seen the light of day since the first few weeks of arriving on your world." He was crazy, and he was all the more of a fool for even considering believing a single word of Logan's tall tale.

"Why does Abell keep prisoners of his own people?" Trying to glean any truths from Logan was a struggle, but he had to keep trying. At that question his cellmate sighed as he answered with a sarcastic tone, "For 'going against 'mankind's true Lord' those few that could see through the fog ended up having their humanity stripped and locked away in cells."

It was then that Logan scoffed before muttering under his large hat, "Makes me wonder who the real prisoners are?"

It sounded more like he just had those that defied him tortured and burned like Logan had it seemed, and deciding to play along with the man's story he asked "How did he come to have so much control over your people?"

This seemed to stump the old mage as he went silent for a few moments before answering. "I haven't heard much, but from what I could gather from my previous apprentices they heard the hexers talking about the Dark Soul: one of the four souls found during the Age of Ancients and the one that had birthed mankind."

"Apparently he somehow came into possession of it, and that is what allowed him to cross over to your world and gain control over what remained of ours." James' head dropped down as he shook his head since it seemed that he wouldn't be getting anything else out of Logan.

The man was too far gone it seemed and so the General would need to find another way of gathering any actual intel.

"Still find me mad do you James?" He looked up to see the yellow teeth of Logan as the man grew a psychotic smile before lifting his hat up so James could see his entire face.

He was just like the guards, but only this time no white light shined within his black hollowed out eye sockets.

"Good that you don't, because I'm still trying to wrap my head around things myself."

…

"Get up worm." The familiar barking of General Tolek had James slowly picking himself up from the cold stone floor. He found it more comfortable than the rotting wood that Logan had no qualms taking over.

Without a word James silently walked out of his cell when Tolek opened the door for him. Saying anything would just earn him another beating, and he needed all the strength he could muster to make it through each day.

No words were shared between them as two guards fell in sync walking behind James while Tolek lead him to who knew where. He couldn't be completely sure as she usually was the one to interrogate him about the other kingdoms, and only beat him when he refused to cooperate.

He didn't give up any useful information to them, and he still wouldn't have his spirit broken.

So it didn't come to him as a surprise when Tolek had him sat down and ordered the guards to leave them. Both moved like robots without any hint of disobedience, but his attention was drawn back to his warden when she sat down opposite of him.

"Wondering why I brought you here?"

"To try and interrogate me for information about Remnant's kingdoms, to beat me senselessly when I refuse to cooperate, or to preach about how _mighty_ you are after conquering Vale?" He said that last bit with some spite as he hadn't believed it for a while when they had informed him of Vale's fall.

"You could try all of the above, but perhaps if you're still here in the coming week or not." Tolek folded her arms as she waited for what she knew James was about to ask.

"What are you talking about?"

James bit his tongue when Tolek opened her mouth once more to speak, but not before drawing a dagger and slamming it into the wooden table. The white flames danced brightly behind the helmet she always seemed fond of wearing as she let go and left the dagger in the middle of the table.

"Speak when spoken to worm." Taking a moment she collected herself before continuing. "With your refusal to cooperate with us our Lord has decided that you are no longer of use to our cause, and will be properly executed."

He couldn't say that he wasn't expecting this, but it still left a sour taste in his mouth that he would die without having at least found out some useful information about the enemy.

"However…" James looked back to the warden of this prison with a glare as she seemed to be enjoying his anger. Her shoulders seemed to slump a little as she seemed to almost growl out, "Our Lord has decided to give you a chance to earn your freedom if you so choose to do so."

"Exactly what would he have me do in order to earn such a thing?" James was skeptical, but with how much it was making Tolek seethe beneath her armor it might be genuine.

"Well, you'll be competing for your freedom rather than outright get a shot at it, but I'll let you figure out what that means." So it was going to be a competition it seems, but seeing how violent Abell is James knew there would be bloodshed involved.

And most likely death.

"And if I manage to beat my competitors?"

Tolek, instead of saying anything stood up and walked to the door leading out of the small interrogation room, but not before turning back once. "This world's warriors are strong since they could fend off the Grimm for so long. Our Lord wishes to test the might of this world's warriors against one of the nightmares born from ours."

Without another word Tolek walked out of the room and ordered the guards to see him back to his cell. James winced as they roughly pulled him up from the chair and began to walk him back to him and Logan's cell.

The pain didn't come from how they handled him, but rather the small dagger that Tolek no doubt left on purpose for him to sneak away with.

If he was going to get out of here alive, then he would need every advantage he could get.

…

He and Logan had been escorted from their cell earlier this morning to be brought to a large, empty room where they had just been waiting the last few hours. As time passed on more prisoners arrived before being left behind by their guards.

In total there seemed to be nearly a hundred of those that spoke out against Abell. Compared to how many seemed to be supporting the Ashen Lord the number was small, but to James it was still more than he initially thought.

He didn't bother to speak to any of them after he and Logan had talked. When he looked around all he saw were more burn victims with their eyes gouged out.

' _What kind of monster does this to people?'_ It didn't make it any better seeing that they were Abell's own people, and frankly it just fueled his resolve to make sure this man was brought down.

"Listen up you worms!" All of their attention was drawn to Tolek as she stood up on a balcony above them. Flanked by every single guard that had been escorting their own prisoners it looked more like a show of power than any actual need of protection.

She looked down on them all with a disgusted look on her face as she took them all in.

Their eyes met for a moment, and it seemed that a glint shined in her eye when they did, but she broke it off to speak. "Today you all will be competing for the chance to earn your freedom from this wretched place."

Murmurs could already be heard amongst those closer to him and Logan as James patiently waited for her to continue. "Our merciful Lord has deemed every single one of you with a second chance to start anew. He even went as far as to say that you may choose to leave this kingdom for the world outside our walls if you wish."

The murmurs grew louder this time, and it seemed to drive her patience as she slammed the metal railing resulting in a loud clang. "Quiet! Now, as merciful as our Lord may be, he still holds each of you accountable for your treason. That is why only _one_ of you will be leaving this hellhole alive."

"This isn't what he promised-!" Someone from the crowd shouted out before a thick crunching sound cut them off.

James looked around for the source of the voice before seeing a thinly built man lying motionless on the ground a few yards away. The black shaft of a crossbow bolt protruded from his neck as crimson blood began pooling beneath his corpse.

"Anyone else?" Tolek hadn't been the one to fire, but rather one of the guards closer to her. No one seemed to take a breath even as she went on. "Good. Now don't give me those sniveling looks. Think of the positive side: you have one less competitor standing between you and freedom!"

James bit down on his anger as best as he could. To murder a man in cold blood, just like that, it was cruel.

"You all will be given a choice of arms before we begin, and will be moved to the Crucible within the hour. Choose wisely worms, your lives depend on it." With that said they were all corralled to an arms room filled with various weapons.

They were all very basic and looked more suited to a time back before Dust.

Halberds, short swords, a few shields and small daggers were some of the choices that James could see. He had to act fast however as everyone began rushing to find a weapon that best suited them before they were all gone.

Shoving a few out of his way James thought back on his training with melee. With only one arm a halberd would be difficult, and these maces would be outclassed by almost anything with a further range.

Weapons were going fast as James rushed down the racks passing by small wooden round shields and what appeared to be walking sticks. Luck seemed to favor him at the moment as he came upon a sturdy broadsword.

Inspecting the weapon James took notice of a few nicks along the flat face of the blade, but other than that it looked to be almost newly made. After struggling a little with the belt he managed to secure the blade in its hilt as everyone looked to have been armed.

A few were left with nothing but their fists, but he couldn't afford to aid them right now if he was going to get out.

It didn't take long after for Tolek's guards to begin moving them to this 'Crucible.' A heavy iron gate blocked their way, but an unseen mechanism had it lifted up within under a minute before they were all forced out into the arena.

James held up his hand to shield his eyes from the pale sunlight that shown down from the arena's wide open roof. Grey clouds covered the sky like a blanket with enough cracks to allow some light to shine down atop them.

A flat expanse of space made up most of the Crucible's main floor with no real distinctive features that he could note. That reason being that he couldn't see any distinctive features due to the fact that it looked like a bottomless pit.

The only thing keeping all of them from falling to their deaths was the four way bridge that met up in the center of the circle.

The inky black of the pit seemed like a great maw of some terrible beast, just waiting for anyone unfortunate enough to fall into its awaiting maw. James knew that beast would be well fed this day, and by the looks of his competitors they knew it too.

"Better put on a good show for the audience, because they want to see some blood spilt." Tolek's course voice sent a short shiver down his spine as she called back her guards before leaving them all in the Crucible.

James hadn't noticed it since his mind was on the pit at the time, but there were hundreds- no thousands of spectators cheering and shouting for the bloodbath that was soon to ensure.

Some looked to be soldiers wearing that devil armor while others wore cloaks or robes of some kind. All of them had the glowing white eyes that were clearly distinctive even from this far away.

It didn't take James long to see where the Ashen Lord sat.

Nearly directly across from where he now stood sat a large curved balcony. The insignia of his kingdom hung on banners on either side of Abell while he sat in the middle. It came to somewhat of a surprise to him when he spotted no guards protecting the Lord.

Was he just that confident that none of these prisoners would try to make an attempt on his life?

His attention was drawn away from Abell when the sounds of two other gates began to open.

"Oh dear." Logan muttered beside him as dozens of Grimm Creepers and Beowolves crawled their way past the gates on either side of them.

They would have begun charging straight towards them had it not been for two ashen walls that had erected from the bridges themselves.

' _Dust. It has to be a mechanism or semblance of some kind right?'_ He wasn't entirely sure what he just witnessed since he's never heard of a semblance that could materialize something to that degree.

This entire arena seemed too 'medieval' to even run proper dust-powered electronics, so that was out.

James stared directly at the man that sat on the throne with a steel gaze from across the bridge.

All eyes from the audience seemed to turn directly to him as Abell stared back from afar. Unnerving to say the least, James found out that everyone had gone silent since the howls of the awaiting Grimm became much clearer.

It was Abell who broke eye contact first as a man was rolled up in a wheelchair next to him.

"Release the Grimm already!" A voice came from the audience as it was soon followed by another then more. As if they woke up from a daze life swiftly returned to the surrounding spectators as they called out for their blood.

Hard to tell from so far away James saw the Ashen Lord pull something familiar out before holding it up to his face. His eyes widened when he recognized it as the same black flame that Ozpin had secured right before everything went to hell.

"What is that thing Logan?" Even though James thought him mad, the proclaimed sorcerer was as close to an ally that he had in this place. Looking past to where he was pointing at Logan suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "What is it?" He asked again as the man actually began to shake a little.

"The Dark Soul."

" **You all are traitors to your kingdom and your Lord."** The spell seemed to take hold of the audience once more as not a single one of them made a sound. Abell still sat in his throne as he looked down at all of them, but James couldn't see his expression due to the helmet and distance.

" **Each of you came to this world prepared to serve me, so that we could rebuild what the Sinner had taken from us all. To start anew and break the endless cycle of the curse, but together."** James found it strange how even the Grimm seemed to have quieted down somewhat as Abell went on.

" **Others had their chance to help us, but instead turned us away. Some even tried to have us taken out before we could even begin!"** Even though Abell didn't look at him, James could still feel the thousands of eyes that looked right at him.

" **Today only one of you will be given a chance to earn your freedom. The rest will die, here in this arena. You all made your choice long ago, and now you will face the consequences."**

" **Every Grimm here now contains a small piece of the Dark Soul. Slay them and take it for your own. Whoever holds the most doesn't matter, but what does is that the more you claim the easier your freedom will come to you."**

James wasn't following at first, but taking a look at the Grimm his eyes widened in shock. No red eyes regarded him, but instead soulless black sockets had the hairs on his neck stiffen.

What was this? These Grimm were warped from their normal brethren, but whether that was a good or bad thing he had yet to determine.

Feeling a hand on his arm James turned to look at Logan who wore a serious expression now that Abell explained the rules. "He's lying, James. Whatever you do don't kill any of those Grimm if you can help it. Kill as little of them as you can manage, and stick close to me."

He didn't feel confident in Logan who could easily be trying to win for himself, but it was better than trusting Abell's word.

"Understood, but what about the other prisoners?"

"We let them take care of the Grimm, and I have a plan for when they turn on us." James was about to say something, but Abell began speaking once more.

" **A piece of advice: killing someone with any shards of the Dark Soul will grant their shards to you."**

"Remember to stay close." Logan whispered as the barriers holding the Grimm at bay fell straight back into the bridge they were created from.

" **Begin!"**

James held his footing as both man and Grimm charged one another, but both he and Logan remained stationary as the others rushed ahead. They paid no attention to either of them and before long both men found themselves at the gate they came through.

The audience _roared_ as the first drop of blood was spilled.

Calling it a massacre would be putting it kindly. It was absolute chaos at the center of the bridges where men and Grimm slaughtered one another. James watched in both disgust and horror as he watched what happened to those that were too weak to fight.

If you could survive the Grimm and even manage to kill one, then a backstab from your fellow man would leave you bleeding. Either dead or bleeding out, bodies began piling up all across the bridge.

His blood boiled as he watched this complete disrespect of life unfold before him, and he hadn't realized that he had already began to move until Logan was shouting behind him.

Ahead were around ten or so prisoners left as they fought over the two remaining Beowolves. A large, heavy set man decapitated one of the wolves before twisting around faster than James initially thought he could to swing his bloody halberd into the chest of someone standing behind him.

The force behind the swing had the unfortunate man flying off the bridge entirely and into the abyss below.

A woman with two daggers dodged past his heavy swings before plunging both into his fat neck, but the gruesome death wasn't what had him stopping. It was the black and white flames that flowed _into_ the woman's face, and the fact that she wasn't fazed in the least halted his steps.

It allowed Logan to catch up, but not before the last few competitors remained on the bridge.

"It's two against one. I'll draw his attention while you-"

"No. We stick to the plan and keep our distance from him until he's right where we want him." Logan began pulling on James as the last competitor looked their way.

A tall, broad man stood across from the bridge with a blood soaked spear held against his side. It was hard to tell if it was the blood or the burn marks that made the man look crimson.

Most likely both if he was to guess, but when the man pointed his spear at them he bellowed out, **"Your deaths** will be **wh** at allows **me to es** cape this **hell at last!"**

His voice was altered like Abell's, but James didn't care about that now as the man positioned himself to charge.

It didn't come.

Instead his body began to spasm horrifically as limbs bent in unnatural positions and what looked like small bony arms began sprouting from his body.

" **Aaa** aaa **uugh!"** His howls were drowned out as pure black sludge began to pour out of the man's eyes, nose and mouth like a fountain.

"What the hell is happening to him Logan?!" Was this the power of that soul that Logan seemed to fear so much? The sorcerer said nothing as what was once a man fell over.

The sludge didn't stop pouring out, but it didn't spread out either as it gathered atop whatever remained of the body beneath.

"B-be prepared to fight James. Keep it distracted w-while I-I prepare my spell." Logan was visibly shaking now as James turned away from his cellmate to see what monstrosity that now awaited them both.

What he saw made him question if Logan was really mad after all.

Slowly standing itself up the abomination looked around as though it didn't know where it was. The head rounded out somewhat to create a dome like object where multiple glowing white eyes looked around beneath the sludge.

Its entire back was bulged and hunched over while being supported on two stubby legs. The spear had been melded to its right arm by the sludge while only a shriveled up white tree limb now served as the other arm.

James threw up over the side of the bridge when he spotted what little remained of the human that this thing once was dangling in various places across its new body.

Was this what would have happened to him if he had not heeded Logan's advice?

It didn't allow him time to ponder such thoughts as it finally noticed the last two competitors and began to charge. But instead of charging towards them, the thing used the sludge on its body to actually slide straight at them!

With only one damaged arm and this single sword he wouldn't be able to stop it from ramming into both of them.

There was no way to dodge the oncoming threat and both of them would become crimson stains against the gate. Every possible idea ran through his mind and he didn't like any of them if he and Logan were to survive… but did he really need Logan?

The answer to that came from the man in question as he put himself in front of James. With only seconds to spare James couldn't even get a word out before Logan held out the stick that he had chosen earlier.

Its head became engulfed in a pale blue light as James heard Logan steadily chanting words in a language that was unlike anything he had ever heard before.

Just about to grab the madman in a vain attempt to save him, James' breath caught when a straight beam of light shot from the head of stick directly into the path of the abomination.

Faster than his eyes could keep up with large crystals began to erupt from the bridge itself before impaling themselves into the dark beast. The sound of glass breaking filled his eardrums as the momentum that it had built up allowed it to break the crystals easily enough.

James braced himself for the impending force that would slam into him and break him, relieving him of this hell.

But it never came.

Roars of both protest and cheer was all he heard as James cracked open an eye to see Logan standing still in front of him. Looking past his cellmate he didn't see the monster that had been about to kill them both.

A closer look revealed its trail of black sludge veering a sharp left off of the bridge and into the darkness below. Whatever Logan had done, it had just been enough to steer that thing right off its intended course.

Careful not to lose his balance James peered over the edge to see if it had somehow still been alive, but he saw no signs of it from the depths.

For now he would assume that was a good thing, but now it was just him and…

" **I** t's already **b-** be **ginn** ing to happen to me." He wasn't lying either as the same crystals that had saved their lives began to sprout all over Logan's body, but they were only black and far more brittle.

Looking upon the only noble person in this gods awful kingdom, who was sacrificing himself for someone he barely knew, how could he have saved him?

" **It's** be **en an inter** est **ing experience to- to get to** meet some **one** from **Remnant."** Logan's body began to bend in unnatural ways as whiter, branch like bones produced from his back. Black crystals covered his entire right arm now, and James could see a whitish eye begin to grow out of his shoulder.

" **Goodbye James…"** The man took only a few steps before he let himself fall over the edge of the James reached out, and to his horror he hesitated as his hand almost grasped Logan's.

If he had then Logan's sacrifice would have been in vain.

He was the last one alive as the crowd cheered all around him in their bloodlust, and he didn't even pay attention nor move when they all went silent.

" **Well done Ironwood. You have bested common thieves and desperate men clinging to their lives. But by far your biggest accomplishment was tricking that old man into killing himself for you."** Abell's voice was calm, but James caught the mockery hidden beneath.

Standing up and glaring directly at the Ashen Lord, James has had enough. "You're a monster! You are a scourge on Remnant like the Grimm and will be hunted down by all of mankind until there are none of you left!" He spat it out at them, but he wasn't done yet.

"After what I've seen today I now know that Logan wasn't mad, but telling me the truth. _You_ led these people to this corruption haven't you, or have you all always been this bloodthirsty?" James had gestured to both the corpses of the prisoners as well as the audience before turning back to Abell.

The man looked down at James for a long time. All the while the sharp gazes of every single person in the stands were trying to pierce his skin like daggers, but he ignored them as Abell remained silent.

He stood up and walked over to the edge of his balcony.

" **We were always corrupt Ironwood, but that is the nature of man is it not? No matter how pure or innocent one could act, one would always have that hidden darkness that they wished to keep hidden from everyone."**

Without stopping Abell continued, **"Logan was no fool, but saw fit to ruin his chance to start anew. What he told you,** _ **everything**_ **, it was all true and I will make sure that all of Remnant experiences my power before I bring them to their knees."**

Abell began to walk away as the gates behind James began to slowly pull themselves up. "You're the fool here Abell, and we will destroy you and your people!"

Stopping, but not turning around, the Ashen Lord began to laugh. The audience joined in soon after as a chorus of synchronized laughter filled James' ears.

" **I will grant you a brief time to recover your strength before you** _ **attempt**_ **to earn your freedom Ironwood."**

With that said James could only watch the back of the Ashen Lord as he was pulled back into the dark depths of the dungeons beneath Abell's kingdom.

* * *

 **It's been what? Three months since the last upload? Well to be honest I decided to take December off, and school has recently started back up for me so I've been working on this when I could.**

 **I will apologize for the "false updates," and won't let that happen again unless it's a message regarding the story. I also want to thank all of you that have been waiting so patiently and I will make sure that the next chapter will be out in two months. JK.**

 **As a final note I've only recently started watching Volume 4, but I'm trying spread it out so that I don't get too influenced to go along with canon. I am going to say that we'll be seeing JNRR in the following chapter(s), and Ironwood isn't done yet. I'll talk to you all in the next chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one!**


	27. Chapter 27

**I've noticed that some have unfollowed the story, and without good reason. I can't update as often as I used to due to finals and such with college, and I have work as well so writing becomes more of a chore some days after a long day. All I can really say is that I'm doing my best, and I thank everyone that hasn't abandoned the story yet.**

 **Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **What Comes After**_

It had been nearly a year since Vale fell to the Ashen Lord with his armies of Grimm and men. No one knew how he had gathered so much Grimm under his control, or if he had any control over them at all just as little as the White Fang had.

Some speculated that he and all that followed him came from the Grimmlands while others said that they were Grimm given human shape. There were many rumors going around about the "King of Grimm", but Ruby Rose didn't care about any of it.

That man, despite sparing her life, destroyed nearly everything that she held dear.

He had razed Vale to the ground along with the countless lives he'd snuffed out. Velvet didn't survive her injuries, and perhaps that was a mercy considering she lost all feeling beneath her chest. Weiss and Blake were gone, and Yang still wouldn't really talk to anyone due to her lost arm. Ruby recalled hearing the news first hand from her dad, and when she had asked about Pyrrha…

Abell had taken two friends from her, and that was something that she wouldn't forgive.

Despite the heavy losses there were still Vale refugees that were without homes. The other kingdoms accepted as many as they could, but thousands were forced to wait outside the walls of each kingdom. A small percent of the population decided to stay within the continent to try and reclaim their home, and there was some silver lining there.

Ozpin was one of the new councilmen elected to help lead them.

Tensions were still high between what remained of Vale and Atlas, as a lot still blamed Atlas for the attack when their own droids turned against them.

The young girl sighed as she managed to smile at the sight of Jaune and Nora bickering about food or something silly. Ren watched passively from the side as she giggled when they both tried to get him on their side.

Temporary team JNRR, or Junior as Jaune liked calling it despite no one else agreeing on that name. They were out here right now on a mission from Ozpin himself to gather data on Abell and where he could possibly be hiding.

It was a long shot, and while they all wanted to go after him now, Ozpin had strictly instructed them that what remained of Vale needed to be protected. Not to mention that they had to take back Beacon first from what was believed to be under the control of one of Abell's lieutenants.

The last village they had stopped at had pointed them to a place named Strargus, which they hadn't heard from for the last two weeks or so. It was a possible lead, and frankly they were starting to get a little desperate after the last month hadn't yielded any information on the Ashen Lord.

"How much longer Jaune?" Their navigator turned to regard her with map in hand before smiling before saying, "According to the map it should be just over this hill."

Relief washed through them as they had been traveling for the last few days on foot, and needed to refill up on supplies for the coming weeks. The plumes of smoke rising above the village turned that relief to worry as they all rushed towards Strargus.

Passing through a large stone gateway Ren pointed out the way the wooden doors seemed to have been bashed in.

She didn't care about what caused it, but rather if there were any survivors. "Spread out and look for survivors guys." Dread crept through her like a sickness, but she had to hold on to the hope that anyone might have survived this.

She wasn't as naïve anymore after the fall of Vale.

As Ruby searched through the desolate village in hopes of finding someone, she couldn't help but notice how undamaged the buildings were. Was this the work of the Grimm or another party entirely?

"Over here you guys!" It was Nora that called out and Ruby ran as fast as she could over to her teammate. The others were there as well when she arrived, and unfortunately Nora hadn't found a survivor. Instead she pointed towards the most damaged house Ruby's seen so far, and lying beneath a pile of debris was one of Abell's Black Knights.

"Is he…?" It was hard to tell, but the shake of Nora's head told her that the man had long been dead. They must have been a few days too late since the smoke hadn't vanished yet.

Ruby turned to Jaune and Ren, but they both shook their heads. "Where is everyone?"

"Well Grimm do sometimes indulge on their victims, but I would have expected to see more remains." Ren seemed lost in thought as Jaune proposed his own theory.

"We know that Abell has some control over the Grimm, but they would have left remains if they had attacked this village. From how little damaged the buildings are I don't think Grimm were the forces used here." They all looked to him before taking a second look around.

Besides the one with the dead knight beneath it, most of the buildings were almost untouched save for a few places where fires once burned.

"Well if the Grimm didn't attack the village, but rather Abell's men then why here? There are no bodies save for this one so I doubt they had much of a struggle taking it down." Ruby wasn't sure what to really make of the situation, but she knew that Abell's men had harmed this village.

"There must be a hideout somewhere for them to be so close to Vale!" They hadn't been allowed to travel outside the continent, but anywhere else was free roam. Vale was a few weeks from here, so these men must have been from the branch that was currently occupying Beacon.

"These guys must be from Beacon. Jaune are there any villages close to Strargus?" Ruby asked with hope in her heart. Her friend fumbled with the map trying to get it out quickly, and once he had it he looked up with a smile. "There's one only two days journey from here. If we leave now we may be able to catch up to them before they can destroy that one."

Renewed hope filled them once more and Ruby was the first to say, "We'll let's get moving! We've got some knights to catch."

From afar a man watched the young, inexperienced team rush off to go catch up with Abell's troops. Qrow chuckled at his niece's spirit, but he saw that force when he had scouted the village when they had been asleep.

A small army in itself, but nothing he couldn't have too much trouble handling. Of course there was also one of those golems roaming around with them which he could admit would make him sweat. He worried for Ruby's safety more than anything.

He had been too late to save any of the villagers, but not before seeing the last few being dragged through those same damn portals. Taking a drink from his flask Qrow wondered where that dark rift led to.

It probably led to the heart of where the Ashen Lord resided. Ironwood went missing that night too, and he was willing to bet his drinking habits that ol' Jimmy was behind those portals.

He'd been forbidden by Ozpin to going through the portals lest he get himself trapped, or even killed by whatever lay beyond them.

"Welp, better get moving." Picking up his weapon Qrow silently followed his niece and her group unbeknownst to them. After all, he had another mission from Ozpin to carry out.

…

" _ **And when your time comes. When your purpose for continuing to exist in this world is snuffed out like a tiny flame. Know that it will be I who will be the one to extinguish that flame."**_

" _ **You will hollow like the rest of us."**_

With a jolt Ruby awoke from the nightmare she had been having.

She didn't remember much of what had happened after she had witnessed Pyrrha's death. Even her dad and uncle couldn't shed any light there when she had asked them.

All they said was that she had been found near the outskirts of the city before everyone had been pushed out of Vale completely.

Those words that would sometimes whisper themselves in her dreams when she slept were all that she could recall. They had been haunting her ever since she woke up from her injuries, but she knew that they had been spoken by Abell.

It was another quiet night in the forest. Ren and Nora were asleep while Jaune was off practicing with Pyrrha's training videos.

Feeling restless, Ruby got up and after grabbing Crescent Rose she headed out to check the perimeter. It was really just an excuse to get those words out of her head really.

The fresh breeze calmed her as she could still faintly hear the sword swings of her best friend practicing. What had her walking a little faster was that Jaune's sword swings were behind her while the ones she heard sounded further ahead.

As she got closer she could hear the sounds of combat as two weapons clashed.

Being careful not to make a sound Ruby snuck closer to the source and eventually came upon two of Abell's men fighting one another. Realizing it as a duel she noticed neither seemed to hear her among the haze of combat.

Each carried a thick heavy blade that looked too large to be just a straight sword. The guards were curved towards the wielders and the blades had a dark coloration to them. One carried a shield with a burnt face and narrowed channel chiseled down the center.

Both wore the same black armor that all of Abell's military wore, but the techniques each used with the sword surprised her.

One feinted left and with a quick turn-a-round managed to land a hit on their opponent. However the other one quickly pushed the sword off them with the shield before going for an overhead swing.

Each moved faster than she first initially thought they could manage, but quickly shaking her head she knew now wasn't the time to be enjoying the show! Turning around to go and get the others Ruby came face to face with a Creeper.

"EE-!" She clamped down on her mouth as fast as she could to not alert the two knights behind her. The Grimm had no red eyes, but rather bottomless black pits that bore into her. Rearing its head back the Grimm was about to screech and alert her position!

Realizing this quickly Ruby dispatched the small Grimm in one fell swing decapitating the creature.

When she heard the clanking sounds of a sword against a shield Ruby silently sighed in relief as she went to get Jaune and the others. That was when a black blade narrowly missed her neck, but left a huge gash along her hood.

From the corner of her eye she saw that it was the black knight without a shield who broke through the brush to try and grab her. Speeding away Ruby soon turned around to see the knight fully emerge from the bushes and stand before her.

They were tall, but as the old saying went: the bigger they are the harder they fall.

Readying her baby Ruby wasted no time making the first move. Steel clashed again that night as she looked up to see that the knight had caught her attack within the curve of the guard.

The knight made another grab for her, but she dislodged her scythe fast enough to evade their grip.

Placing the flat edge of the blade on their shoulder they spoke, **"You're coming with me girl. Our Lord has plans for you."**

His voice was deep and distorted and it reminded her too much of the voice that liked to speak those words in her dreams.

"Well he should have taken me while he had the chance!" Ruby rushed in once more, but this time stopping right in front of the man just as he prepared to throw her off again.

If he was caught off guard he didn't show it as he tried taking a swing at her. This close to him she couldn't swing that well, but dodging his attacks were easy.

After trying to stab her Ruby saw the opening and went for it. The knight used the same move from the duel and, quickly turning around, brought the blade before her once more.

Unable to dodge away easily with the momentum Ruby had to take a hit to the shoulder. A cry of pain escaped her, and looking at where he had hit she saw only some dark red seeping though since her Aura took most of the hit.

It still left her dominant arm weak though and this man knew that as he charged her.

He went for a shoulder tackle instead when he neared catching her off guard, but she managed to recover fast enough to deflect his next few hits. The man was growing restless as he continued pushing her back as she could only block.

" **Your soul will serve us well!"** He brought his sword up in both hands as he was about to end this.

It left him wide open.

Pulling the trigger on Crescent Rose, Ruby's shoulder cried out in pain as her grip remained true on her weapon. A large, deep cut ran across and through the man's armor where blood shot out of his chest profusely like a red geyser.

Dropping his sword the knight fell to the ground, and with a few more gasps of breath he lay still on the grass unmoving.

Propping herself up Ruby looked down at the person she had just killed with a small pang of guilt. Despite all the butchering Abell and his men committed they were still people, and for Ruby she still felt wrong killing others.

Her first time had been a lot worse, but thankfully JNRR was there for her at the time.

It was when she heard the sounds of Jaune and the others coming up behind her quickly that she turned. "Ruby! What happened? Are you alright?" Jaune asked with worry in his voice as he looked her up and down for injuries. She smiled regardless and some of the worry faded from his face.

"We heard some commotion and came looking as soon as we saw that you were missing." Ren explained as he and Nora had their weapons out in case there was more of the enemy.

Speaking of which… the second knight! Frantically looking around Ruby rushed into the clearing where the two had been dueling, but no signs of the second black knight could be seen.

"What is it Ruby?" Jaune came up behind her with weapons raised. "Did you see someone?"

"There was another one of Abell's men here. He must have run off to go and warn the others!" That meant that they weren't that far from wherever these men were set up then.

"Ruby you're bleeding." Ren grabbed hold of her arm before starting to tend to her minor wound she had sustained. "Do you guys think these guys are close enough for use to catch up to them?" Nora looked to Jaune and them her as both nodded in agreement.

"If we leave now we should be able to find them before dawn."

"Well then why are we standing around here? Let's go catch us some baddies!" Nora's spirit was as bright as ever, and continued to be until both she and Ren grew unnervingly silent when they had arrived at a fork in the road.

"What's wrong you two?" Ruby asked with some concern as both of them looked uncomfortable about something.

"N-nothing Ruby! Ren and I are just… uhh hungry yeah!" Nora put up a big smile for them, but Jaune saw through it and spoke to Ren directly. "Ren. What's wrong." It wasn't a question.

His teammate remained silent, and when Ruby took notice of the crossed out sign she pointed to it.

"K-kuroyuri? Do you guys think Abell's men went there?"

"No. Nothing would be there for them." Ren wasn't looking at them, but the reaper pressed on regardless. "Those two knights weren't far from here Ren, and from the looks of these signs that's the only village they could be set up at."

"I said there's nothing there. They wouldn't want anything there, because that village was destroyed years ago." He didn't shout, but it was the sternest Ren had ever been to anyone and for Jaune and Ruby that shocked them.

After a moment of silence Jaune was the first to speak, "Well it's the best lead we got, and we're on a mission to get _any_ information about these guys and report it back to Ozpin." Both men glared at one another as a stern silence enveloped them once again, but Ruby had to agree with Jaune on this one.

"We're going. These men almost wiped Vale completely off the face of Remnant, and I will not let any chance of finding them slip away." It hurt her to make that call, especially since Ren seemed so reluctant to go, but it was Nora who had the solution.

"We'll split up then." They both looked at her as though she sprouted a second head. "Ren and I will head up the mountains to get a better view of everything, and maybe even see if these guys are there or not. Is that okay Ren?"

After a few seconds of thought Ren nodded his agreement, and turning to Jaune and Ruby they found that it was the best option they had. After wishing each other well and safety Ruby and Jaune began the trek towards Kuroyuri village.

…

The three days he'd been given passed by within the blink of an eye.

He didn't get much rest over that time within his now empty cell. The prison halls had been dead silent ever since the competition took place. The silence had begun to drive him mad as even the guards rarely showed up; save for when it was time for him to be fed.

Before he had entered the arena he had been given a single straight sword. It's once silver blade had long since been dulled, as was the gold hilt and guard where a small, circular jewel was embedded.

It was a relic from an ancient, fallen land called Astora, but he'd never heard of the place.

Standing now far below the crossing paths that he and Logan stood together, he could barely see the gate opposite of him; the light from above just barely reached down to illuminate the arena. Looking around he saw no notable features about this part of the Crucible.

A cobblestone floor with various dark splatters that he oddly didn't think was blood, but he didn't feel like getting a closer look at the substance.

The booming voice of Abell came down from up above, and even this far down he could still hear the man clearly. **"If you are to kill the Crucible's champion then you will be granted leave from my kingdom Ironwood."**

This was it, and while his spirit was damaged it wasn't broken just yet. He needed to get back to Ozpin, Glynda, and hell he'd even be happy to see Qrow's drunken ass too.

" **Come.** _ **Champion.**_ **"**

Steeling himself James waited to see who, or what, exactly came out from behind that darkened gate. The light barely touched them, and the darkness behind the bars was utter black.

There was something more though that chilled him.

The darkness seemed to be its own entity almost. As if it were alive it seemed to reach out towards him with the intent on dragging him behind those bars and into that inky blackness.

Groans echoed out from within the black that had him put his guard up, and internally he shook as a horrid scream assaulted his ears. It sounded so tortured and in pain, and he wouldn't put it past the Ashen Lord to do something like this to his champion.

He's been subjugated to the same tortures himself for months now after all.

Large, heavy footfalls lumbered themselves closer and closer towards the gate as it finally began to shakily open itself up. The sounds of dragging chains was heard along with the audible groans of whomever he was about to face.

Whoever they were, they sounded tired.

It hadn't even been halfway up when an armored gauntlet appeared and forced the gate all the way up within a second. Retracting the hand a dark figure soon followed out from within the shadows as if they were apart of them.

Something heavier than chains dragged behind the figure, and it took James a moment to recognize the rough shape of a large greatsword.

They stood just out of the light's reach, but whether that was their intention or not James couldn't decide as he was still trying to discern person from shadow.

" **Step into the light, Sir Artorias."**

The figure listened it seemed, but not without some form of jerk in movement it appeared, and after the knight stepped fully into the little light provided James' eyes widened.

" **Meet one of the knights of the Sinner who helped keep humanity from reaching their full potential. A noble man whom had went to save the townsfolk of Oolacile, and put a stop to mankind's father and creator."**

" **He failed the people of Londor, and the cost of his failure led to them all being drowned to contain the Darkness that** _ **he**_ **was supposed to contain."** Ironwood couldn't even imagine the countless innocents that must have been lost, but contain what darkness?

" **A man who failed his Lord, his kingdom, and the people that relied on him in their hour of need. A failure of a knight only fit to be a horrid creature of the Abyss."**

He's been general of Atlas' armies for a decade now, and a Huntsman for even longer. Not within either career has he see anything, man or Grimm, like the decaying knight before him.

The man was hunched over, but even then he must have stood at least seven to eight feet tall. Remnants of silver armor could just be made out beneath the rust and dark purple substance that stained most of this man's armor.

What used to be a blue cape of sorts clung in tatters around his neck, and where his silver helm with its dark tassel on top, the man's face was shrouded in the same darkness that he had emerged from.

His left arm hung limp at his side while the right dragged the massive greatsword behind him. Even that was covered by the dark purple stains along with cracks all along designs that had been engraved into the face.

Chains were clamped around his legs and arms, restricting his movements it seemed. Their purpose seemed lost to Ironwood as this giant seemed much too strong if the broken links that dragged behind him were any indication.

"What did he do to you?" James' whispered shock came out as the black that was Artorias' face didn't even seem really focused on him.

" **Whomever thou art, stay away…** " His voice was as distorted as Abell's own, but it didn't sound like it was the Lord's words. James took notice of Artorias' sword bearing arm coming up to pull the sword up in front of him. " **Soon, I will be consumed. By** _ **them**_ **, by the Dark.** "

"What are you-" It was then the man began screaming in agony and started thrashing out sending the chains he was bound to slamming into the cobblestone floor. It didn't ease his nerves when he spotted cracks when the chains moved again.

" **So, there's still some of that soul of yours left within that vessel Sir Artorias? We'll see how long your will can continue to hold against the Dark. Begin!"** As soon as Abell spoke the words Artorias lurched forwards faster than Ironwood anticipated.

Dodging out of the way James wasted no time in putting distance between them, but Artorias didn't attack immediately. His entire body twitched before jerking itself to face him in one fluid motion.

" **Forgive me human. For my body is under His control.** "

He couldn't have predicted the man to leap up so high into the air. Artorias' body blotted out the light before he came crashing back down right onto James. Leaping back James took the opportunity of the knight's recovery to strike, but Artorias saw it coming and swept his massive greatsword on a full circle.

Keeping him back James couldn't find any openings as Artorias prepared to charge him.

A purple like sludge, unlike the type covering the man, spread across the ground as Artorias ran straight at him. Propelling himself to the side he wasted no time plunging the sword he'd been given into the man's side.

Black and purple blood seeped from the wound, but if it had hurt Artorias he showed no signs of pain. In fact it had made him even angrier.

Before James could dodge Artorias elbowed him in the chest which sent him staggering back. The monstrous sword only seconds away from striking him down, he tried parrying with the sword he had been given. Too dull was the blade and brittle too as it snapped in half leaving him with only a broken sword.

The tip of the blade went flying somewhere beyond his vision, and he didn't have time to look as he rolled out of Artorias' next swing. Even with only a broken blade he still had a chance to win this fight. He had to.

Another stab into his chest, but the monster showed no signs of slowing down even as fresh blood flowed from his wounds and onto the ground.

" **hhrrrgg… throat… so dry."** James wasn't sure what the man meant as he was doing his best to just not be hit. His aura in its weakened state most likely couldn't sustain such a hit from that sword, and he wouldn't bet against the purple stains covering it wasn't some kind of poison.

It continued to disturb him whenever the poor soul twitched as Abell puppeted him like some sick toy.

After continuously landing strikes where he could, even though the jagged tip did little to penetrate the broken armor, James still saw no evidence that his opponent was slowing down. Leaving a shallow gash along his left thigh was when the knight reacted in a different way.

Kneeling, or hunched down more likely, Artorias began to moan. It started off low, but soon grew in pitch until he bellowed out yet another inhuman like screech. Clutching his ears James was unable to move fast enough to escape as Artorias leapt into the air once more.

He couldn't have parried the falling sword as both its weight and momentum gained as gravity took both it and its owner straight towards him.

James didn't even have time to react to his thigh being split open as the giant flipped himself to bring his sword down once more. Dust was constantly being shot up until a small cloud had formed around them.

Discarding the broken weapon as he saw no further use for it James took in his surroundings.

Unable to see he drew the dagger that had kept hidden ever since Tolek left it behind after her interrogation. Sounding like Artorias was blinded as well, if how his wild thrashings were any indication, James took the opportunity to form a plan.

He seemed numb to pain all across his body, and blood loss barely fazed him it appeared. It popped into his mind a second later, and as much as he hated it James knew it was his best bet.

Getting in close wasn't easy, but he was able to pinpoint Artorias' location just by following the man's loud screams. Still with the element of surprise on his size due to the dust cloud still being sustained by Artorias, James did his best to quickly rush up on him.

Like grabbing an Ursa by the hide James found purchase by using one of the chains to restrict the knight's only good arm. His hold wouldn't hold for long as he could already feel his grip becoming loose, but he steeled himself to hold out as long as possible.

Artorias' constant thrashings threw the chains widely around and some slammed repeatedly into his back. His aura could do nothing to stop the back breaking pain the shot across all over his backside.

With the dagger in his mouth James bit down on the pain as he waited for the right moment for when he let go, he'd only get one shot at killing this man.

When it looked as though Artorias was about to cut himself with his own sword James let go. The greatsword, with all the strength behind it and more, was plunged into the arena's floor once more.

Lodging it in place bought James the precious few seconds he needed to take the dagger form his mouth and slide it all the way across the knight's neck. The rigidness and leather feel of the face beneath the helm sent shivers through him as black blood gushed out from the fatal wound.

One final, violent thrash threw James off as Artorias turned to face him. If _this_ didn't kill the man then he didn't know what could. He didn't drop his guard as they stared one another down as the only noise that could be heard was James' heavy breathing and Artorias' gurgling.

It sounded like he had tried saying something, but James couldn't tell as Artorias drowned on his own blood. He had a feeling that it was a thank you.

A heavy thud echoed throughout the arena as the once mighty warrior finally fell into the pool of black and purple blood. The greatsword clattered loudly before falling apart into pieces.

He'd beaten Abell's champion.

Slow clapping could be heard behind him as the gates were raised once more, and when both Tolek and Abell walked through to greet him James felt a sense of caution.

" **Bravo General Ironwood. You've bested the arena's champion, and for that I shall award you freedom from my kingdom."** Sensing James' suspicions the Ashen Lord held both hands up to show that he was unarmed.

" **I assure you that you have won your freedom fairly Ironwood. On the honor as a knight and Lord I would not go back on my word."** James didn't trust him despite Abell's attempt at being polite, and it popped into his mind that in his current condition he wouldn't be able to make it to Vale on his own.

The Lord nodded his head before stepping closer, which James in turn took a step back. **"No need to worry Ironwood. Your use to me has all but been extinguished."**

Nodding James steeled himself to fight again when the Ashen Lord approached him, and it took all his will to not twitch when the cold armored hand rested itself on his shoulder.

He still had the dagger in hand. Its blade stained black with Artorias' blood.

" **Choose your next decision very carefully Ironwood."** The coldness in his voice foretold of what would become of him if he made the unwise choice. When Abell had turned his back to James to address Tolek on something was when James looked for a weakness in the armor. There!

Maybe it was this place, or his own selfish desire to get back at this man. Not even for the torture inflicted upon him during his time here, but for the lives that had been taken. The thousands of innocent lives that had been wrongfully been cut short thanks to this man.

Was he just tired?

Or would he just be useless to his allies and kingdom even if he were to return? In this state and with how long he's been gone he doubted that they haven't replaced him yet as general. A happy thought of Winter taking over that position filled him with some hope as he knew Atlas would be in capable hands then.

Unlike his.

Looking down at them he only saw the black blood that stained them.

Alone, cold, emotionless, isolated, blank, killer, failure, joyless, anger, selfish…

 **Hollow.**

Was this place truly getting to him? The words swam throughout his mind as his hand gripped tighter around the black-stained dagger. _'They stopped needing me ever since I lost my arm.'_ Dark thoughts swarmed his mind and infected him like a sickness, and he couldn't see anything else but the darkness.

He's waited so long for some light to help guide him out of the darkness that was in his life, and the ones who claimed themselves his friends never offered it. His knuckles had turned white as something clicked in his head.

He wouldn't be making it home to Atlas, nor would he see any of his friends again. They may not be able to manage themselves without him, but who was he kidding? When's the last time Oz or Glynda ever needed him to stand?

' _I can do this one last favor for them at least.'_ He thought to himself as the dagger dug into the small opening where the helmet and chest met. It wouldn't be the fastest death, but it would kill the man and hopefully help Remnant in the war to come.

James coughed up blood immediately as a lance made of ash had burrowed itself through his chest and out through the other side. His vision blurred as he tried focusing on the lance that had shot out from Abell's back and into his own, but the effort was making him tired.

" **You chose wrong, dear Ironwood."**

The Ashen golem of Abell suddenly began to crumple before falling into the ground. The lance followed as well which allowed blood to freely pour out.

Tolek was making her way over to him as he began to lose feeling all throughout his body. Her words were muffled and he didn't catch any of them, but they didn't matter.

When he could barely feel himself being thrown into something, James couldn't tell if the black that he saw was him fading into unconsciousness or something much, much worse.

…

They were running much faster when they heard screams coming from Kuroyuri village, and when Ruby and Jaune arrived it was a bloodbath.

Knights of black armor and bearing Abell's sigil either stood fighting or lay still on the ground unmoving. As for what they were fighting Ruby felt a pang of fear run through her as she gazed upon the horrid Grimm.

What was supposed to be a Nightmare was profoundly grotesque as it bore resemblance to a normal horse, but its fore and hind legs were much larger. Where the four other legs should have been Ruby could only make out four small, twitching legs that didn't even reach the ground.

Atop the deformed Nightmare sat, or rather was fused to, an erringly humanoid "rider". Its elongated arms nearly touched the ground where boney claws grew out from the rider's fingertips. A demon's skull with unnaturally long horns made the thing's face, and it was made only more fearful with the red glow that emitted from behind the skull.

Those same claws tore through a man's breastplate with ease before turning its attention towards two more Knights charging from behind. The impaled knight was left to fall into a pool of his own blood, and Ruby gripped her weapon tighter before rushing in.

But it was Jaune who held her back, and before she could tell him to let her go he pointed to why he stopped her.

One of the same golems that had assaulted Beacon charged at the Grimm, but both of them realized that it held no weapons as the ones they've seen. The giant delivered a crushing blow to the Grimm's side which had it skidding along the ground, but it didn't fall.

The golem kept attacking while the Grimm did it's best to dodge, and it seemed that both were locked into a constant dance of dodging and attacking. The Nightmare head would charge into the golem's arm whenever it was open while the rider tried lashing out with its claws.

The claws barely scratched the golem's hide, but the impact from the Nightmare seemed to leave a fracture along its forearm.

Meanwhile those that could move went in to assist the golem it seemed while Jaune directed Ruby's attention towards the Knight's that had fallen. Figures in white cloaks rushed around towards the fallen, and many shook their heads and moved onto the next.

Those that didn't move on could be seen chanting something while holding a chime over a fallen knight. Both of them didn't speak when a golden light encompassed both the cloaked figure and knight.

Symbols that neither of them had seen before spread out along the ground beneath both figures. When it receded the once wounded knight was back on his feet within moments as though he'd never been injured.

A deafening screech brought both of their attention back to the battle at hand as Abell's men surrounded the Grimm while the golem held the Nightmare's head down. It tried getting itself out, but it would only snap its own neck if it kept going.

Even the rider couldn't do much as its claws were useless against the golem's thick armor, and all it could do was keep the knights from closing in further.

"Why don't they just kill it already?" He sounded more curious than anything else as Ruby wondered herself, but it seemed that she would be getting her answer soon enough.

Knights with chains came up before throwing them over and across the Grimm while those on the opposite side caught them and pulled the chains down. With the weight of the chains and the strength of the men behind them the Grimm eventually had to lower itself down.

Once it seemed secure the white cloaked figures that had brought some of the men back from the brink of death walked forward. There were around ten or so from what Ruby could see, and they all spread out throughout the circle as they each brought out a small black crystal.

Both of them quickly recognized it as the same rune that Cardin had used just before Beacon had fallen.

Runes were etched into the ground all around the Grimm, and when black flames surrounded both the Grimm and golem did they see what the ritual had been for. A black and white portal opened up beneath both monstrosities and slowly they began to sink down into the earth with ease.

"They're capturing Grimm." It was more of a statement than a question, but both still found it bizarre and even more so unsettling news for Vale.

"Yang did mention that when she fought through Beacon she saw neither Grimm or these guys attacking one another." Ruby even recalled seeing the Grimm begin to turn on the White Fang but not Abell's forces just before she had rushed up the tower to…

"We need to stop them Jaune."

"Right, I'll send a message to Ren and Nora to tell them to get here as soon as they can. But we need a plan Ruby." He was right, she knew that, but while he sent the message to Ren and Nora she looked to see both the golem and Grimm about halfway into the portal.

They couldn't wait for the others and Abell would have that Grimm if she and Jaune didn't act now.

So it was without hesitance that Ruby activated her semblance and cut the backs of two knights and even one of the healers. It took them by surprise, but quickly she dodged out of the way as swords were directed at her.

The healer she'd hit continued to chant along with the rest despite being injured, and both golem and Grimm were further slipping away into the portal.

Jaune was besides her as more advanced on them at once. Leaving little room Ruby backed away before rushing back in with Crescent Rose held high. Shields were brought up, but with a quick sleight of hand Ruby angled the scythe and cut at the ankles of her opponents.

Their armor held true, but she hadn't been looking to cut them as three knights fell off balance. To her left was where she saw Jaune engaged with a knight of his own, and she was unable to take advantage of her attack as more advanced.

" **Do not allow them any more ground!"** One of them shouted and Ruby looked to see who must have been the commander here. While he still wore the same armor as his men, the only distinctive thing was the small red cape that clung to his back.

More of the knights charged Jaune and Ruby, forcing Jaune to abandon his fight with the knight he had been engaged with to not be overrun. "Ruby how are we going to punch through their defenses?"

The reaper blinked once before turning to him with a confused look. "Weren't you the strategist Jaune?" They had to keep backing up to prevent being surrounded, but before they knew it they had run up against a wall. "Now would be a great time for a plan Jaune!"

"You were the one who ran into this mess before I could think of one!" There was no hesitation as the commander sent out the kill order. Nearly ten swords were about to be run right through them before a loud metallic whirring noise came whistling in from above.

Before her stood her uncle Qrow with his scythe in hand as he struggled a bit to keep four swords down while the rest of the wielders had been cut down.

"Hey squirt." She didn't even ask as right now as her eyes were set on the healers who were all continuing to chant their dark spell. The Grimm had been submerged deep enough that the golem released it before climbing back up and out of the portal. The rider atop the Grimm continued to scream as it attempted to free itself from the darkness that surrounded it, but it proved futile.

A long whistle was let out as Qrow inspected the monstrous thing. "Now that looks like it's worth my time." She wasn't sure whether he meant the golem or the Grimm, but right now Ruby motioned for Jaune to follow as she went after the healers.

They couldn't let Abell add that Grimm to his army.

Without even thinking she dodged away from the golem's slam and continued to run. It turned around to give chase, but from Qrow's sword-scythe lodged into its leg he had other plans. Qrow sent an excited look over to Jaune before saying, "Hey kid. Want to try that new blade of yours out on this guy?"

Jaune was shocked. "How did you-?" The golem slamming its leg down to dislodge Qrow cut him off so it would have to wait. But he had questions for Ruby's uncle once this was over.

Only a few remaining knights stood in her way, along with the commander, from the healers. **"Go and kill the other two. Leave the Ark to me."**

' _Does he mean Jaune?'_ When it looked like he would be facing her Ruby immediately thought back to the words that whispered themselves in her dreams.

Could there be a connection there? She'd have to ask Professor Ozpin's opinion when she got back to the camps.

He wasted no time speaking further as the commander rushed her. Dashing to his left she ducked as the long black blade swung at her head. He blocked her first few swings with a shield and steady arm.

Even the curve of Crescent Rose had trouble getting by the shield as the commander extended his arm out to keep her at bay. Changing tactics quickly Ruby dislodged her scythe and spun on the spot bringing the curved blade down quickly on her opponent.

She must have been too fast for him as strong steel cut through thick black armor. Unfortunately it was only his shoulder, but that didn't deter her.

He caught her next attack easily before, using the weight of his body for momentum, roughly turned her own spin against her by throwing her away. On the ground she rolled to avoid being impaled.

A grunt escaped him, but nothing more was said as they both fought on. Meanwhile the Grimm was almost completely submerged now in the inky darkness, its skin blending perfectly with the dark void that consumed it.

Looking at her aura she saw that she was still in the green, if only bordering on yellow, but green was good. Wasting no more time Ruby activated her semblance and rushed the commander, and that's when he surprised her.

Holding his sword out in front of him the knight commander looked like he was trying to block her attack with only his sword, his shield hung on his back. Cutting him didn't even seem to register as Ruby was left open for him to attack.

His sword chopped right through her aura with ease, and while it barely did anything to lessen the blow, she knew she'd be in the red. Or at least close enough to where he could finish her off.

Someone called out her name, but she was too dazed to hear who as she laid on the ground hyperventilating. Blood pooled down freely from the harsh gash that had been inflicted across the same shoulder that had been injured the night before.

Slowly turning her head she could just make out the blurred forms of Uncle Qrow and Jaune still engaged with the golem. One of its arms had been cut off near the elbow, but other than that it had sustained little damage.

Jaune was rushing towards her, but he'd be too late as a black armored gauntlet picked her up by the neck.

" **You have failed as an Ark child."** His hand tightened around her neck choking the air out from getting to her lungs. **"Your soul was unable to grow strong enough to satisfy our Lord's needs, and for that failure you will parish."** Jaune was calling out her name she heard, but the sound of swords clashing told her that the few knights that remained were keeping him back.

The commander positioned his sword point right beneath her stomach, about to strike before saying, **"He will be pleased to be rid of such a failure."**

His shoulder tensed and Ruby shut her eyes in fear of dying. She still had so many things left to do! So many people needed her help. Her father, Professor Ozpin, all of her friends, everyone that had been affected by Abell's attack on the kingdom.

Flashes of her teammates flashed throughout her mind.

Weiss being taken away by her father and forced to live back in Atlas where she wouldn't be happy. Blake having run off again afraid that she had failed them and hiding from her friends rather than talking. Yang who's spirit had been crushed from the loss of her arm, and had become almost like a stranger from the sister that had taken care of her for as long as she could remember.

Her team needed her, and she wouldn't forgive herself if she couldn't be there for them in their times of need.

Silver eyes flashed before she even knew what she was doing.

Immediately she had been dropped by the knight commander. He clutched at his hand as though he'd been burned, and the way he stared at her in what must have been shock filled her with confidence.

" **You're a failure though! Your soul hadn't shown this-"** He stopped talking entirely after a few moments, and Ruby blinked when she noticed that he'd been petrified. He had _literally_ turned to stone!

She backed away from the now frozen statue, frightened at what she'd just done to a person.

"Ruby!" It was Jaune, and when she turned to look at him she saw two fallen knights on the ground. The remaining few broke through his guard, and in an instant she was upon them.

Something glowed beside her, but she didn't see that it was Crescent Rose until it had already slashed their armored backs. Horrid screams escaped them as they actually turned into dust, and it was that horrible sight that put fear in her heart once more.

Then both the light and power vanished, as though it never existed in the first place.

She collapsed a moment later, and the last thing she remembered seeing was Jaune reaching out to her to catch her.

…

Slowly she came to and found herself not in her room at her house in Patch, but tucked away in a sleeping bag. The first thing she felt was the ache in her shoulder from where she'd been hit, and lifting up her collar she could see the white bandages that had been dressed over the wound.

It was her uncle that took notice of her waking, and he was by her side in an instant.

"Hey there squirt. Gave me one hell of a scare there you know." He smiled at her, and she saw the relief in his eyes as well when he reached down to ruffle her hair. When he pulled away she asked, "Is everyone safe?"

She sighed in relief when he nodded his head. With that burden off her mind she turned to him and asked to be filled in on what happened after she had passed out.

They had managed to beat the golem with the arrival of Ren and Nora. Nora managed to keep it distracted on her long enough for Qrow to cut one of its legs off to cripple it. Nora busted the other leg, much to her joy Ruby imagined, and together they had finished it off.

Unfortunately they hadn't been able to kill the Grimm, and while most of the healers had followed through to evade capture; two had been caught.

"Have they told you anything?"

"Nothing. They're tougher to crack than an Ursa's skull, even with some motivation." The way he said it made her unsure whether or not she wanted to know what he meant exactly by that. "Where are they now?"

"Your friends are keeping an eye on them now. I think even the blonde is trying to interrogate them himself." A small chuckle escaped him as he seemed like he was recalling something. "They grow up so fast."

With his help Ruby managed to get back up onto her feet. Once she felt that she could walk without his aid she asked him to take her to them. She had some of her own questions that hopefully they could answer.

Not far from where she had been asleep they both came to a small clearing. A fire had been lit in the middle where both Ren and Nora sat chatting with one another. Ruby would have been tackled and likely crushed to death by Nora if it hadn't been for Ren holding her back.

"Ruby!" The bubbly girl cheered, "We're so glad you're awake. We'd thought you'd never wake up. Oh my god it's been nearly a month since you passed out!"

"What?!"

"You know how she likes to exaggerate. It's good to see you up and about again Ruby." Ren put a stop to the questions that buzzed in her head thanks to Nora.

She smiled at them both. Happy that they were alright, unhurt, alive.

Then a frustrated growl came from nearby the camp, and without wondering who it came from she headed off in that direction. The others soon followed behind as they all came upon Jaune's interrogation of the two healers that they'd captured.

Both had their hands bound and tied behind their backs while their feet were bound as well. They both rested against a tree while their captor paced before them in a frustrated manner, clearly upset with the lack of response.

Getting a closer look at them she noticed that both were female. White robes clung to their forms while a matching white hood obscured their faces. Neither said anything to Jaune as their silence only made his mounting anger grow.

"I'll ask again. Tell me everything that you know about Abell." The barely concealed anger behind those words seemed ready to come out in full force, but Qrow interjected. "Look, kid, you're not going to get them to speak by just out-right demanding it. There are better methods to this, but now isn't the time or place to be doing this."

"Then when would be a good time!"

"When we're back home. Now come on. I need to tell you four the reasons why I'm here in the first place." It hadn't occurred to her until now that, while she was thankful for her uncle being here, she still didn't know why he was.

Not straying too far from the bound prisoners Qrow brought them all near the fire and told them all one big fairy tale.

…

It had been hell trying to sneak past the guards unnoticed. Too many close calls, and a few hidden bodies later, both Emerald and Mercury had made it into the Ashen Lord's kingdom.

Mercury was beyond annoyed with their assignment, but too fearful of Salem to deny their mission to kill Abell. She had been furious when both of them had returned to her tower in the Grimmlands and informed her on the news of Cinder's death.

He doubted that it was actually that the Queen of Grimm had cared for their late Mistress, but rather that this guy had taken a wrench to her plans and had a field day breaking them.

Emerald had taken it pretty hard, but him? He'd been celebrating on the inside that he'd been freed from being under her service. Sure she'd been hot and it's a shame that had been wasted on someone like her, but better her than him right?

Both he and Emerald had just entered the guy's fortress, and _that_ had been even more annoying since the place was teeming with guards. Everywhere they turned patrols of two would be right around the corner, and Emerald's illusions were the only things that had avoided them sounding the alarm.

He'd asked her to try and keep it up until they got through the entire mission, and her response to that had been the middle finger.

When they reached the top of the tower they had come into a road block. Giant black iron doors blocked their entrance into what Emerald had thought to be the throne room.

"How are we even sure this is the right place?" Usually the tallest tower in a castle held a trapped princess or something like that. He read it once in a book that he'd immediately tossed as it didn't interest him in the slightest.

She had been silent throughout most of the mission, but as always he managed to push her buttons just right. "Well it's not like there was any directory that could guide us to the damn place! Now stop being useless for once and help me open this door."

Sighing out of annoyance they both pushed against the heavy iron doors with all their might, and it didn't even yield an inch. He was about to try and kick it open when Emerald tackled him to the ground.

"What the hell?!"

"Are you trying to get us caught? Do you have any idea how loud kicking down that door will make you idiot?" She pushed off him a second later, and he spit at her feet as she didn't offer a hand to help him up.

"Well how about we try saying the magic words: Open sesame." He mockingly said the words as he shot his hands out towards the doors. As soon as the words left his mouth the heavy iron doors began to slowly open themselves to them.

"Uuhhh… meant to do that."

"Sure. Come on let's go Mister Magic." He followed her into the throne room through the small space the doors had made. The room was huge, with larger than life statues of knights parallel to each other leading up to an even larger statue towards the back of the room.

Red banners hung along the sides of each statue as they walked further into the room, and Mercury couldn't shake the feeling like he was being watched by the statues. Ashes were spread all across the floor of the entire room, and either it had something to do with the guy's semblance or he just had really bad housekeeping.

As they approached the foot of the largest statue there sat a single dark steel throne with engravings that Mercury recalled seeing on the knight's armor of the guards.

"So where's the king huh?" The throne sat empty without someone to warm it, and he'd been wondering the same thing as he said, "Maybe his royal highness went to take a royal dump." Emerald didn't laugh of course, but he thought it was funny and that was all that counted in the end.

The slamming of the twin iron doors far behind them echoed throughout the room with a resounding clang. Both of them turned to the doors with a rush of panic as they realized that their only way out had been sealed off.

" **So the Witch's master has sent her pawns to try and spy on me has she?"**

Both of them knew who's voice echoed throughout the throne room, but it was Emerald that commented surprisingly, "You killed Cinder you bastard! She had agreed to work with you and you stabbed her in the back! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

He chuckled and that sent some chills down his spine as he tried locating the source of Abell's voice. **"I betrayed her? We** _ **both**_ **know that she had planned on being rid of me once she possessed the first Sister's soul."**

Neither of them said anything, and that confirmed his accusation as another foul laugh echoed off the walls.

Mercury was starting to get the sense that they were in way over their heads, and he would have ran away too. Call him a coward, but the only thing keeping him here was the fact that Salem would have him hunted down until he was killed no matter where on Remnant.

" **I give you children the option to surrender now and I promise to make your deaths as…** _ **merciful**_ **as I can."** The way it sounded like he had forced the word out didn't spell good news.

"Why don't you show yourself so we can settle this already?" To his own surprise the words came from him. Most likely because he wanted to get out of this hellhole as quickly as possible and forget this day ever happened.

" **But I've been here the whole time."**

Neither of them spoke when they both turned to see the devil himself sitting atop his throne. Adorned in his signature black armor the Ashen Lord regarded them as nothing more than those of mice before a cat. Both noticed that he was unarmed, but only a fool would have thought the man defenseless.

Immediately Emerald did her mind-warping-illusion seeing thing and he was off.

Mercury smirked when the Lord sat up in his throne while looking about the room as though they had both vanished into thin air. To him they probably had, but despite that he despised her very being, Mercury thanked Emerald for her semblance.

" **Illusions."** He heard him whisper, but by then it was too late as he was already on top of the guy. Rearing his leg back Mercury aimed the blade to sever they guy's head from his body.

An assassin he was, and this was nothing that he hadn't done before.

Abell caught his ankle just as the blade was about to cut his neck open and, using the momentum that he had gathered for such an attack against him, threw Mercury away and into an approaching Emerald.

Both were shocked, as nearly no one had ever seen past one of Emerald's illusions before. The previous Fall maiden had, but no one else that he knew of.

"Well there went our trump card. What's plan B?" Turning to his partner she was already sprinting up to Abell as he stood before his throne looking down upon them.

" **I'll admit to being taken by surprise there. The light-bearers of this world truly are something to behold, but this isn't my first time dealing with illusionists' girl."** A large greatsword and shield conjured themselves from the ashes that littered the foot of the throne and within his hands not a second later.

Mercury was heading up to aid Emerald once he had recovered from the show of what could only have been his semblance. She was already engaged with him in combat, and the way he fluently blocked and parried her attacks spoke of his experience.

He didn't care as he aided her to bring the bastard down, and it wasn't until they were both on him when he had to go on the defensive.

Quickly jumping back to put distance between them Abell looked at them both before his ashen sword swirled around with more ash from the ground. When it fell to the ground once more Abell now held in his hand a large-headed spear.

When they charged once more they noticed that he had forgone the shield in favor of two handing the spear. Only he didn't use if fully as a spear, but rather a staff instead.

Swinging the head around kept him on his toes while Emerald had been forced to block the first few swings. Kicking out to give her some breathing room he realized his mistake just as Abell took advantage of it.

Ducking beneath the kick Abell shoved the shaft-end of the spear into his waist, and with only one foot on the ground he lost his balance. The Ashen Lord lifted him up and over his shoulder sending Mercury onto the ground.

This man, he was faster than Mercury expected him to be in that armor, and before he could get back up the spear plunged itself not into his chest, but his right leg.

"Aaaauug!" Despite not having organic legs anymore, he could still feel the prosthetic limbs as though they were his original. It was the only way he could still fight the way he could as they were bound to his legs through neural transmitters and some crap to do with his aura.

Through the electrifying pain that shot up through his leg Mercury was expecting to see a spear aimed to finish him off, and it was. Abell was about to impale him for good this time, once he had been incapacitated that was so he couldn't escape.

He looked past Abell's shoulder just in time to see Emerald wrap a chain around Abell and pull him back, and as the man stumbled to maintain his balance was when she struck.

Her other hand poised to strike him down while the other kept his arms pinned to himself. He was completely defenseless and still when she cut into his chest, and she cut _deep_.

"Get him Em." He mumbled through the pain as he took one look at his shattered and broken leg. _'Fuck. This is going to cost a fortune to fix.'_

When he turned back his eyes widened as he felt like he was about to be sick.

Abell was gone, and Emerald stood twitching in place as her own two weapons had been impaled into her stomach. Blood etched from the fresh wounds as her confused face looked down in horror at herself. Those hadn't been the only wounds at all though.

Mercury looked at the multiple cuts that had littered her body. They were shallow, but the sheer number of them had her bleeding constantly.

She fell to her knees a second later as heavy footfalls could be heard behind her.

Mercury tried standing up to get to her, but when he attempted to stand he realized that his leg was still shattered. And why did his hands hurt so much?

When he looked down at them he saw a few broken fingers along with multiple bruises and cuts. "Wh-w-wh…" He was beyond words as he looked down past his destroyed hands and saw with even more dread as both legs had been shattered completely.

Broken by- by…

He raised his hands up to his face again as fear pooled through him as the footfalls became louder. Mercury turned once more to Emerald, and he screamed when he saw the Ashen Lord standing behind her corpse with her disembodied head held in hand.

A bloody dagger conjured was held in hand as he tossed the head away. The wet thud it made as it hit the floor startled him to look at the monster that had done this. "You…"

" **You two forfeited your lives when you decided to enter my domain. Look where we are."** Mercury managed to tear his eyes away for just a second to see what Abell had pointed to.

His heart sunk.

They stood in the throne room still, or the room leading into it that was. The black iron doors remained closed, and Mercury could even see the dust that remained undisturbed along the door's surface.

" **None but my most trusted knights and advisers are allowed access to the throne room. After all, what lies in there is not yet ready to be shared with this world just yet."**

He said no more before gripping Mercury's silver hair in a vice grip, and before he even had time to utter a scream the dagger was at his throat. He could feel himself choking on his own blood as darkness began to creep into the corners of his vision.

Meanwhile Abell looked into his eyes the entire time as the light faded away from his eyes. Those cold, white eyes never once faltered as Mercury Black was taken away under the cold waves of darkness that washed over him.

And he was scared of what waited in that darkness as death fully took him.

* * *

 **I'm thinking that both this chapter and the next one will be about Vale getting back on its feet while Abell's plans move forwards. Also I bet that they'll put it in Volume 5, but the other Maidens haven't been seen yet and I want to address them in the next chapter. After this small 'Recovery Arc' I'm going to move into the final phase of this fic, and it's been a long time coming.**

 **Thank you all again for sticking with me despite my terrible update times. Also on a different topic, does anyone else find it kind of bull that Ozpin came back as a voice in someone's head?**

 **Talk to you all in the next chapter.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Glad to get this chapter out. I've mainly been looking for a job for the summer, and I struck luck with Starbucks. Not a huge coffee fan myself, but I think I enjoy the atmosphere the more than the drinks.**

 **Onto the story!**

* * *

 _ **The Caged Bird**_

It had taken them nearly two weeks to get back to New Vale. Qrow had made short work of what little Grimm had attacked them, and that's what worried them all so much.

Barely any Grimm roamed outside in the wild lands, and those that they had come across either attacked or maintained their distance. There was one instance where a Boarbatusk ran straight past them and straight for their prisoners. It had only murder in its eyes and it would have killed them both had it not been for Nora and Ruby intercepting the beast.

Ruby could have sworn that disappointment flashed on one of the priestess' faces, but a stone cold mask hid any signs of emotion a second later.

Qrow had managed to get some information out of the two, but none of it was very useful as it was only their positions and a _brief_ explanation of what they could do. Even then it had taken Qrow nearly two hours to break that information out of them.

' _To heal those yet to succumb.'_ The brief explanation had only led Ruby to seeing the two as medics or doctors of some kind. She wasn't sure nor did she really care as they didn't give any information on Abell.

"Hopefully Ozpin will be able to get something out of them." It was her uncle speaking as he and Ruby escorted the two to the New Vale police department. It was small for the police as it had been made only two stories high and held a max of only four rooms.

A lot of the buildings of New Vale had been hastily constructed to give citizens shelter while hunters protected from any Grimm threat. At the start there had been a normal amount of Grimm that attacked them, but as time went on barely any even showed up.

Giving strict orders to keep eyes on the two at all times Qrow handed them both off to six awaiting officers who took the two women into their custody. Still not knowing exactly how Abell's portals, or 'rifts' as Professor Oobleck liked to call them, any and all prisoners were to be under strict and constant supervision at all times.

They disappeared into the police headquarters soon after and once they were out of sight was when Ruby sighed in relief.

"There's something interesting." Her uncle mumbled and when she turned to him to ask she was a bit surprised to hear him reply. "I broke two of the taller one's fingers a couple days ago, and now they're all healed as good as new." She didn't say anything at first as the initial shock took her, but she was more mature now.

More prepared for what it would take to protect those she cared for.

"They did say they were healers didn't they?"

"Yeah, but their hands have been bound since the first day we've had them captured so I doubt they could've performed any mystical-voodoo." He waved his hands as though he was summoning some great power and it caused her to giggle at his silliness.

"Mystical-voodoo?" Raising a brow Ruby thought of it more along the lines of magic. Qrow took a sip from his flask before reminding her to meet up with Ozpin soon to give her report.

Nodding she headed off to find Jaune as they both needed to be present to give their official report to the headmaster. Beacon or no Beacon Ozpin was still the headmaster of their school, and he would be once again once they took back the city and Beacon.

Walking past small huts made of cloth and hay, the tightly packed residential areas of New Vale were always bustling with activity. Children running around playing while mothers worked on folding clothes while the men continued to improve and build more huts to provide more space for their families.

Of course there were many other jobs being filled to help aid in everyone's continued survival out in the wilds. Vale's economy wasn't back to what it was in the city, but the Merchant Yard provided plenty of trade in exchange for items.

You got what you could give.

It wasn't the best method, but without means to make lien they had to adapt to their situation. The kindness people shown to one another were just about what kept some survivors going when they didn't have anything considered 'worthy' of trading.

She eventually found Jaune within the southern section of New Vale where most of the hunters and those still in training were housed at. He was busy talking with a local blacksmith about what appeared to be about getting his armor repaired.

Jaune offered the man some of the metal plating that he had managed to salvage from the knights that hadn't been turned into stone. She was told that a lot of Grimm had been attracted to Kuroyuri village and her uncle had said that he didn't want to risk her getting killed.

Bidding farewell to the smith Jaune spotted her and soon they were both walking towards New Vale's city hall.

Both had been ordered to deliver a full report of their mission to the council after the prisoners had been sent to be interrogated. Anyone that was sent out past New Vale's hastily built wall were expected to deliver reports, but her uncle said it was just a way for the councilmen to feel like they were still in power.

Ozpin was the real leader of things in the city, and he was the only one the hunters and huntresses actually respected and took seriously.

"What do you think they did with that Grimm?" His face looked as though it had been carved from stone, and it had been since Qrow had told them everything. Why the school had been attacked, the people that they were up against, and the power of the Maidens.

The powers that had gotten Pyrrha killed.

The question came from out of the blue as she couldn't think of why he'd asked. To be honest she would admit to being curious as well as to what happened to that nightmarish Grimm, but did it matter?

"Does it really matter Jaune?" She quickly explained herself when he raised a single brow at her. "I mean a Grimm is just a Grimm, and whether they're wild or under Abell's control doesn't make that much of a difference does it?" Whether they had glowing red eyes or lifeless black pits didn't make them any less of a Grimm.

"Does it make a difference? Are you serious Ruby?" Jaune was surprised as he went on saying, "Wild Grimm are just that: wild. They can be unpredictable at times sure, but they still are just aggressive mindless beasts that just try and kill us."

"But with someone to give that mindless aggression direction though? Look what happened to our home Ruby! Those guys were working _alongside_ the Grimm and proved to be a lot stronger together than by themselves." Where all this anger had come from she didn't know, but she didn't like seeing Jaune like this.

Her thoughts were interrupted a second later as they had arrived to their destination sooner than she had thought, but as they entered through the large wooden doors she made a mental note to talk to him about this later.

The inside of city hall wasn't anything grand.

A large circular room with only a few smaller rooms depicted by doors leading to them made up most of the building. With a large half-circular desk sitting in the center of the room the rest was filled with chairs for people to sit in during town meetings.

Ruby spotted Ozpin sitting in the middle seat of the desk with two other councilmen on either side of him. She didn't remember either of the other two councilmen's names, and she'd of thought with only there being seven members of the council there she would recall their names better.

"Greetings Ms. Rose and Mr. Arc. You both know why you've been called to this debriefing, so please feel free to start." Ozpin offered them both a warm smile while the other two just sat there without uttering a word to either of them.

They went over everything from the villages they had stopped by for supplies to the ones that had been either abandoned or overrun. She told them how little Grimm they had encountered throughout their journey, and the new intelligence that Abell's forces were gathering up Grimm.

She and Jaune went into their run in with Abell's men at Kuroyuri and how her uncle had came to their rescue before they could be taken down. Jaune sent a suspicious look towards Ozpin, but whether the former headmaster noticed was hidden as he remained silent.

Finally, Ruby told them about how white cloaked figures brought knights back from what looked like death, and that they managed to take a powerful nightmarish Grimm through one of their portals.

Silence filled the hall as all three councilmen talked amongst themselves.

"We need to get Atlas and Mantle to deliver those supplies they owe to us now so we can further build up our defenses. If what the girl says is true then we won't survive the Grimm King's army let alone a legion of the Grimm he surely commands." The man to Ozpin's right stated as his brow creased with worry of what Abell would do to them.

"Those supplies and walls won't do us any good from where we are now Royce! He will wipe what remains of Vale's people off the face of Remnant from this piss-poor excuse of Vale." The other councilman was older and more experienced than the younger Royce.

"What are you suggesting Ryan?" Ozpin asked as he turned towards his fellow councilman. Both Ruby and Jaune seemed to have gone ignored and neither were sure if they should stay or dismiss themselves as Ryan went with his proposal.

"I say that we gather up all of our forces and make a push to recapture our home. Our _real_ home! Those bastards think they can just take over our lands and not expect retaliation? Well I say let's show them why they shouldn't have ever set foot on our soil."

One who wanted to hide and hope for the best and another who wants to fight and take back their home.

Ruby knew which side she stood on, but ultimately it would end up with Ozpin's decision on what they would do. "Both of you make valid points. Royce," Turning to the younger man he went on, "While it would be good to bolster our defenses in case of an attack that I'm sure is to come, we can't just sit here and do nothing."

That made Ryan cross his arms and smile in victory, but it slipped off when Ozpin turned to regard him next. "You want us to mount an attack to take back our home, and we will in time, but we don't have all of our strength up yet. Many are still recovering from that terrible night, and if we are to take both Vale _and_ Beacon back we'll need everyone ready."

"For now we'll continue rebuilding our strength to take back Vale, while also improving our defenses in case of any attack against us." Both men didn't seem entirely happy with the decision, but neither could complain as in the end Ozpin held the most sway with the people. All three stood up and both Royce and Ryan left while Ozpin remained behind as he turned to both of them.

Having seen the looks on their faces Ozpin said, "Rest assured neither of you are in trouble for hearing that talk. Any debates of real importance would be discussed in private, and now that they're gone I can rest a little easier. Politics were never my strongest trait I'm afraid."

"Professor, now that I've caught you I wanted to ask you about something and…" She looked to Jaune as she bit her lip.

"I'll see myself out. Good day professor." Ruby mouthed a silent apology as he made his way out of the room. Once Jaune was gone she turned back to Ozpin and asked what had been on her mind ever since that fight with the knight commander back in Kuroyuri.

She went into what the man had said to her during their fight and how she hadn't been able to grow strong enough for some plan of theirs.

"He called me the 'Ark', but what could that mean professor?" Ozpin remained quiet through it all and only spoke once she had finished. "I simply do not know Ms. Rose. Be glad that you will no longer have a target painted on your back if what the man said was true."

He was trying to dismiss her, and deep down she knew it had something to do with those Maidens her uncle had told them all about.

"Is it the same thing as the Maidens?"

Silence filled the entire hall and Ozpin looked as though he aged right there on the spot as the man's mouth set itself in a frown. "This is neither the place nor the time to be discussing this Ms. Rose-"

"No! I want some answers here. Everyone's been so secretive lately, and I'm sick of being left out in the dark. Tell me something professor. Please…" Before she never would have raised her voice to a teacher, but Ruby was just tired of not knowing anything that were affecting her and everyone else.

Ozpin remained silent for a while as he seemed to be thinking of the consequences of giving her the answers she sought.

"Very well Ms. Rose. I will tell you what I can." Gesturing for her to sit down Ruby did so as Ozpin began. "As Qrow no doubt informed you, you already know the story behind the Maidens I presume?" Nodding her head Ozpin went on. "We believed that you would be the next Spring Maiden, and when the time came for the power to transfer itself to you, you would have already been safe within Beacon's walls."

"But Beacon's gone now, and we're out here in the wilderness without the same defenses Vale had."

"Yes, and while there are still many huntsmen and huntresses around to guard the citizens they can only do so much if an enemy of substantial force came." The words were not comforting, but Ruby would fight until her last breath to protect the innocent and her friends.

"This Ark as they described you could just be their own way of describing the Maidens, but I'm not entirely sure. We know very little about our new enemies Ms. Rose, and I fear for whatever reason they sought you out it would end in disaster for Remnant." Ruby sat there stunned at the just the thought of not only Vale, but all the kingdoms across Remnant being destroyed.

Could she, no, anyone stop something like that?

' _Of course we could, and I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen.'_ With newfound determination Ruby stood up and was out the door of city hall with only a parting goodbye to Ozpin.

The old Headmaster chuckled to himself as his demons and fears were suppressed a little at seeing that look in the young huntress. Not only her, but all the youth that had survived Beacon had the same look.

"You can come out now Qrow."

He heard his old friend flap his wings from the open windowsill and before there was a crow now stood a man. "Think this whole Ark deal is somehow related to the Maidens?"

Turning to face his old friend with a gentle smile Ozpin said in a light tone, "Of that I have no doubt."

…

Sunlight slowly crept through the dark room of her bedroom as Klein opened the curtains.

"Five more minutes." Weiss Schnee groaned into her sheets as she wrapped them over her head to block out the invading light. She'd been kept to her room ever since her father had dragged her away from Beacon after the invasion, but she doubted it was actually because he wanted her safe.

Besides being forced to continue her studies at Atlas Academy Weiss Schnee had been kept prisoner by her own father for months now.

"I'm afraid that it's time for you to get up Ms. Schnee. You can't expect to be cooped up in your room and locked away forever now can you?" Klein ripped the sheets from atop her head before she could get a better grip as the sun nearly blinded her. "Now I've prepped your breakfast in the dining hall, and don't even try to starve yourself, otherwise I'll just carry you there myself."

"Don't be ridiculous Klein. I'll be down in a few minutes, and thank you for getting me up again." She'd never been that desperate and she certainly wasn't now. She was much stronger than that, and she would be damned to choose the coward's way out.

Klein offered her a small smile, and she returned it as her friend left her to get ready. The smile dropped when she thought of the dark circles under his eyes.

All the aid had looked more tiresome than she remembered, and it was troubling her more than anything that she couldn't do anything to help them. Her father had become more aggressive than he's ever been, and it didn't stop with just those under Schnee employ either.

Her family was also suffering too.

Winter had become much more distant with her position in Atlas' military, and when their father tried taking advantage of that Winter had to cut them all off for some time. It was the most heartbreaking for Weiss since she and her sister had always been close, and now she felt abandoned by her sister and left to her fate.

Whitley had changed much from what she remembered of her little brother.

Before where there was a spoiled child who got what he wanted and held himself higher than those he deemed "below" him now stood a complete stranger. Her brother too looked tired and stressed like the servants, but there was something else that had taken over who he once was.

Her mother… well they never had to worry about running out of wine.

Walking through the halls of her home Weiss ran into Whitley along the way as the two passed one another.

"Hello Whitley." She greeted him in a formal manner, just as all Schnees were supposed to. It took him a second to even acknowledge that she was even there, and his normal smug smirk was plastered across his face. It was a poor imitation, but his refusal to meet her eyes already gave him away.

"Hello dear sister. It's good to see you out of your room up and about." Nervous was how he sounded. Silence hung between them where neither made a move to continue the conversation, and just as she was about to leave to continue her walk Whitley shouted after her.

"A warning sister. Father is very upset right now, more than usual." He added when she sent him a raised brow. "From what I heard he was talking to Winter." Weiss didn't miss how his hands clenched at the sound of their sister's name, but the feeling had passed just as quickly.

Whitley had always held a sore spot for Winter, but even now that had disappeared making her wonder just what had happened to her brother while she had been away at Beacon.

She would have to ask Klein to see if he had any insight, but that would have to come later.

"Be careful around him Weiss." With how their father's been acting the warning was unnecessary, but appreciated nonetheless. Turning her back to her brother Weiss thanked him for the information before heading off to see what she could learn.

The answer came to her not a moment later as her hand balled up into a fist. Fear had taken control of her brother, and she was heading to what she believed to be the source of it now.

…

 _I sat meditating within the garden of the old blacksmith's home._

 _Calm, quiet, and undisturbed this was the best place for me to practice my skills with the sword. The Darkroot Garden rarely received visitors save for the common thief trying to loot the treasures the Garden held._

 _Smiling to myself I recalled the last one becoming a chew toy for Anna, Brey, and Cynthia. He didn't last long as their feline fangs tore into him, but a warrior such as myself would not show pity for those that wished to harm what I hold dear._

 _If I'm going to join the Forest Hunters one day then I would need to learn not to show mercy to my enemy._

 _A loud snap sounded behind me and immediately I drew my bokken in a flash and readied myself in an instant. The brush in front of me began to shake and just as I was about to lunge a small boy with sandy blonde hair fell to the ground before me._

 _I placed the tip of the wooden blade to the boy's chest and whispered, "Dead."_

" _Darn it. How'd you hear me this time Alonne?". . . asked me as I chuckled at his thirteenth attempt to "sneak attack" me today alone. He has yet to succeed and likely will not for a long time. Unless, of course, he suddenly found a way to mask his movements like some of those assassins from the magic schools._

 _Helping my younger brother up before dusting him down I pointed out his mistakes. "You snapped a tree branch, rustled enough leaves to make me think it was fall, and tripped down right in front of me. If I were an enemy you would have been dead already."_

 _Seeing his defeated expression I whispered the magic words that always made him smile, "You are getting better . . .. One foot closer than last time." Giving him thumbs up I saw the determination spark right back into him as a smile bloomed across his face._

" _Next time I'll get you Alonne. You won't be expecting it when I finally get you." He pointed at me like he always did when he made such declarations, and I knew he would one day get the better of me, but that day just wasn't today. "Oh I know! Let's go play with uncle Roy and see what he's working on now!"_

 _Roy was a hard working blacksmith, and while he wasn't blood related to either me or . . . it didn't stop the man from taking us both in when we separately showed up at his doorstep one day._

 _. . . and I grew up together for the last few years, and I've made a vow to both Roy and my honor as a warrior to protect my innocent brother. Even if it meant giving up my life for his, or even not becoming a Forest Hunter I would always place him first._

 _When we had first met I tried getting . . . to become a warrior like me so I could relate to him better, but he had refused to kill. Not even the tiny insects that flooded the Garden's forests and I had come to accept that from . . . Our uncle loves making the jest of how . . . is the fair maiden and I'm his knight in shining armor._

 _We both hated that joke, but it's not like it wasn't true._

 _Lost in my own thoughts . . . had vanished. Probably going off to find our uncle, and feeling a bit stiff in the legs for meditating all morning I decided to go and catch up with him._

 _The distant clanging sounds of a hammer beating on an anvil grew closer as I neared uncle Roy's workshop. When I arrived I took note of all the swords, shields, pieces of armor, and other various things that were strewn about. Most littered the floor since the walls were all taken up already, but Roy's customers never cared for how clean the weapons or armor were._

 _As long as they could deliver a kill or prevent one was all that mattered to the Forest Hunters._

 _Taking notice of me soon after I began rummaging through some of the pieces of armor that intrigued me Roy greeted me, "Hey there brat. Finished your warrior's training for today Alonne?" There was no mock in his voice as Roy respected the warrior's way and me as well. Despite the man being nearly five times my age he knew a fighter when he saw one._

" _I've decided to take a small break and play with . . ., and he'd mentioned coming up to bother you. Is he here by any chance?" The workshop wasn't large or anything, but knowing my little brother he would probably be trying to hide under some breastplate or something trying to surprise him._

" _The squirt? Nah I've yet to see him since this morning. Have you checked the area surrounding the base?" I nodded my head and an uncomfortable silence fell between the both of us as neither of us knew where he was. Clapping his hands together Roy put down his tools and stood up saying, "Welp, guess it's time to go'n find the little squirt. Probably gone off to the deeper forest again."_

 _Though he tried to hide it I could hear the fear in my uncle's voice as the deeper parts of the Garden were not safe for kids our age. My training would only get me so far, and the dangers were why we were only allowed to go out when Roy was with us._

 _Grabbing one of the many short swords off the rack Roy tossed me a small dagger. "For your own protection ya hear? I'll take care of anything big, but just in case Alonne."_

 _I would have preferred a katana, but Roy didn't specialize in those. Nodding we were both outside the safely of the walls of our home and deep into the forest as nightfall was setting._

 _It didn't take long to feel as though we've been searching for hours._

 _The torch Roy had lit for us had begun to run low, and we were both tired from all the searching. We couldn't even call out his name since we might attract unwanted protection, and when I asked why we hadn't visited the Hunters Roy shook his head._

" _We may do trade with them, but they still don't like people walkin into their territory. We'd be lucky if they let us go with a warning, and I'm not risking leavin you two to fend for yer'selves."_

" _What if they have . . .?"_

" _They'd never harm a child. Even they have certain morals, and I doubt . . . would go there anyways since he hates how they kill people." That had me feel bad as I wished to become what my brother hated, but as long as he was safe I would follow my dreams._

 _The torchlight was doused a second later and when I turned to Roy in alarm he placed a hand over my mouth. Silently pointing ahead I saw another light not too far._

 _It was much larger and immediately I thought that it was a campfire. Probably a couple of thieves that had managed to make it past the Hunters, but why did Roy have us stop here?_

 _It wasn't until I heard the muffled screams of a child that my blood ran cold and I clutched the dagger in my hand tighter._

 _Up ahead I could see the two thieves, whom both looked thin and a little malnourished. One was sitting by the bonfire while the second was holding down the small wriggling form of . . ._

 _Roy and I inched closer, careful not to make a sound as we came within earshot._

" _Surprised we managed to get by those damn pricks. Some'll say they protect some bloke's grave, but I know they're just a gang of thieves like us." The one sitting by the fire said as he chewed on some meat. . . . cried out again for help and I had to resist the urge to lunge out to get to him._

" _Oi Richard! Get that brat to shut the hell up already! I'm trying to enjoy m'meal here." Richard, the other thief that had still been holding down . . ., smiled before delivering a punch to the gut to my brother. The air knocked from his lungs he made a small huffing noise as he tried catching his breath once more._

" _Oh ho ho that's it little bugger. Keep strugglin. I like my toys nice and warmed up before I get to play with em'." It was then I saw the man begin to pull . . .'s pants down, and that's when I snapped._

" _You're a sick fuck you know that Rich- Shit!" Without warning I plunged the dagger into Richard's back. Dark crimson blood flowed forth followed by a startled cry as the man turned around to look at his assailant._

 _It unnerved me when his eyes showed excitement instead of fear._

" _Another toy come to me? How_ wonderful _." Before I could even react Richard was atop me and even with his weakened state he proved stronger than I. With a sickening crunch the man pulled the dagger from his back and immediately tried plunging it down into my stomach._

 _My hands caught his wrist before it could though, but my strength was still no match for this man's. Desperately looking for a way out my mind came up with only one solution. A technique that I had seen quite a few women use when outmatched by a male opponent back when I had roamed the streets._

 _I kicked the bastard in the crotch._

 _He howled in pain, and while he still kept hold of the dagger I used the time to escape from underneath him. "You're a bad one. That's fine though. I still have a fresh toy to play with." Slowly recovering from my kick I began backing away as Richard inched closer to me, dagger in hand and poised to strike._

" _Dammit boy!" The blade of a sword was run through Richard's gut as the iron was stained red with blood. Roy freed his weapon soon enough and I thanked Lord Gwyn and the gods above for seeing Richard not emerge once more._

 _A second later Roy was tackled by the other thief, but my mind was focused on freeing my brother._

 _Without thinking I pried the dagger from the thief's lifeless fingers and rushed over to . . . He was crying and I tried calming him down as I made sure to be careful when cutting him out of his bindings. When his eyes widened I first thought he'd been looking at me, but when he looked behind me was when I turned around._

 _A fist collided with my eye and sent me flying. My eyes were swimming and I couldn't concentrate as multiple men were coming at me at once._

 _The remaining thief then kicked me in the stomach knocking the wind from me before punching me once more. I fell to the ground as I heard . . .'s cry just barely over the ringing in my ears._

" _I knew taking that brat would bring trouble. Damn you Richard and your fucked up fetish." It didn't seem like he was talking to me, but I guess that doesn't matter when you're about to die. Was this really going to my end? I'd never get to reach my goal of becoming a warrior and joining the Hunters._

 _A final thought entered my mind as the thief raised his own wicked dagger. Preparing himself to plunge it deep into my throat._

 _A scream that had me chilled to the bone broke out, and it shook the thief too as he was stunned just long enough for . . . to plunge my discarded dagger into the man's spine._

 _Screams of pain and anger escaped past his lips as he fell to the ground, but he wasn't able to defend himself as . . . plunged the dagger into the man. Again and again._

 _Once I could stand I ran over to him and held his arms back as he went in to stab the long dead man once more. "Stop! Please stop this!" He fell limp in my arms and the dagger fell to the ground with a gentle thud._

" _I-… I just wanted to go and play with the cats in the f-forest." He looked over and silently sobbed. "U-uncle R-oy…" His voice was hoarse from the screaming, and I shushed him as I held him in my arms. I didn't let him see the unmoving form of our uncle that lay unmoving by the fire._

 _. . . just killed a person to save me, and that was when I swore then and there to never let my brother cry again._

"-re you okay master?"

Alonne shook himself out of his memories and looked to find Shiva standing beside him with a concerned look. He smiled to himself as he simply replied, "Forgive me my student. Just… lost in my memories was all."

His student seemed to accept the answer, and they both focused their attention back to their current task at hand.

A young woman was kneeled down before them both, and behind them a large city was currently being burned to the ground.

Runes and soapstones surrounded her as the summoners kept her at bay. A dark purple ring enclosed itself around her neck as her powers were nullified for now. Alonne was never much for sorcery, but Grandahl really did know his books to be able to counteract the Vow of Silence miracle to keep the summoners' own magic intact.

Her pale blonde hair was nearly stark white, but it matched well with her slightly tanned skin tone as the two complimented one another. Carmel brown eyes looked into Alonne's own glowing white ones and neither ceased starring as both showed no fear of the other. Her clothes were suited for traveling as her damaged leathers suggested as much, but they hadn't been that way when they had arrived.

Many of his men had fallen trying to take her down, and many more had been frozen, impaled, and shattered.

All his students, but their fall will not have been in vain.

Kneeling down to be eye level with her Alonne spoke in his ever calm voice, "Greetings Maiden of Winter. My Lord offers his most sincere apologies."

The Winter maiden spat in his face, but he did not react as she had wished. Wiping away her spit Alonne called forth for the golem that would contain the soul this girl was unfortunate to inherit.

Heavy footfalls could be heard coming ever closer as the bulky, hollowed-faced golem drew nearer.

The golem's chest cavity opened up like a hungry maw waiting to have its next meal as the pitch black Abyss crept out steadily towards the girl. Or more likely it opened for the great soul that it sensed within her bosom.

It was then that the maiden's expression changed. Fear began to creep into her features as Alonne ordered Shiva to hold her head down, but Alonne knew what that fear was for.

Not for the life that she was about to lose.

Stepping beside her Alonne readied his sword as he prepared to play the role of executioner once more. A part that he was becoming much more accustomed to he was afraid.

"Do you wish to speak any final words Ms.?" His voice was calm as he spoke, and his grip tightened when he saw the tears falling to the ground beneath her. They were ones of both anger and regret.

"What do you even plan to do with it?" A careful question that required a careful answer, even if she was about to be executed Alonne would not take any risk lest his Lord's plans become jeopardized.

Adjusting his sword ever so slightly Alonne offered a quick prayer for this girl's soul to find peace in whatever afterlife she believed in.

"To give ourselves a second chance."

His sword came down.

…

The halls had been fairly void of any activity, and the silence became unnerving when Weiss thought back to how loud Beacon had been. Shouts could be heard coming up ahead though, and ones that she had all but gotten used to for years.

Creeping closer towards her father's study Weiss made sure to not be heard as she listened in on the conversation. It was muffled, but clear enough where she could make out what was being said.

"How do you still not see the potential your position would have for the family?! The SDC could move far beyond just Atlas, and I'm not just talking about distributing dust Winter!" The name had surprised her, but not because it was her sister being yelled at currently.

' _Has Winter been promoted?'_ Weiss knew of her sister's role as the late general Ironwood's second in command, but she had not heard anything from Winter since it had been announced that Ironwood was listed as killed in action. It was only a few months after the fall of Beacon, and while no body had been found there had been the remains to suggest his passing during Beacon's fall.

A close friend to the family, but Weiss hardly knew the man and didn't wish to get to know him. Even during his attempts to get closer to her Weiss shut him out.

"I know what you're plans would entail father, and while Atlas' military will remain allied with the SDC I will not allow any further influence by you or anyone else."

"Where are your loyalties dear daughter of mine? With the family that have raised you or the military that only plan to use you for their plans for war?" A deep silence followed right after, but as soon as it had appeared it had vanished as Winter gave her answer to their father.

"As General of the Atlas military I am forbidden to use my position to influence anything outside my own jurisdiction. And that right now is telling me to not aid you father in your endeavor to spread your power over the world." Her father must have slammed his fist on his desk as the sound of glass cracking was heard from beyond the door.

"I see then." His voice was unnaturally polite. The same kind he would use whenever he would be conducting business with partners. "Well it was kind of you Winter to visit your family. Now get out and see yourself out of my house" The clicking of heels was coming closer towards the door, and before Weiss could get away Winter had opened the door.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but soon relaxed as her sister smiled at her. It faded fast though when their father beckoned Weiss into his study. Winter placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently before heading off without a word.

Weiss turned back towards the dread that awaited her, but squaring her shoulders and putting up a straight face she entered her father's study with confidence. Even if it was false it felt better to have the thought than nothing at all.

His chair was turned to face away from her when she first entered, and the first thing she'd spotted was the half-filled shot glass. The bottle wasn't too far away as its contents were nearly a quarter of the way gone.

' _Well at least his drinking habit has improved somewhat.'_ Still, he was beginning to become like her mother with how much alcohol he's been consuming. The only difference between her parents was that her father took his rage out on them much louder than her mother.

"Take a seat." It wasn't a kind gesture, and she refused it as she remained standing. "Can you believe how many people are still placing Atlas at fault for what happened to Vale? Even after all the refugees that we've taken in everyone is pointing fingers at us!"

Weiss knew that her father wasn't happy about the refugees. He'd call them "leeches" for how they were mooching off the other kingdoms instead of staying in their own like those in New Vale had.

"None of them were there. They didn't see what I had." The countless bodies littering the ground as monsters in black armor and Grimm stood together to snuff out every last life.

Beacon standing alight with fire and smoke as they'd been forced to retreat, and even kept from helping those that had been left behind. She remembered it all, and cursed those that had taken her home, and broke her team apart.

"Then that idiot Ironwood had to go and get himself killed. 'All for the safety of Vale' I'm sure he'd say if he were standing here now. The damn fool had completely forgotten about the people that he swore to protect first!" A fist formed as she felt yet another pang of anger pulse through her as she tried to remain calm and focused before the scum she dared called her father.

"I thought he was doing what he felt was right at the time." It took all her willpower to keep her voice even. General Ironwood had died protecting Vale and her citizens, and in her eyes no one deserved higher praise than that.

"Well, thanks to him and his mistakes Atlas is forbidden to export Dust to any of the other kingdoms. A 'precautionary measure' as the council puts it to make sure no one's going to declare war. I've already lost thousands not being able to sell outside of here, and I'll be damned if I allow the Schnee Dust Company to lose another lien."

"How do you plan on fixing that father?" His brow lifted a little when she spoke to him as a mature young woman. Weiss Schnee wasn't the same submissive girl that her father had come to control over the course of her life.

His eyes narrowed on her, but only for a brief moment before they settled back to his usual stare. "The Schnee Dust Company will be holding a charity concert in the coming weeks." Weiss' eyes widened at the shock of hearing him suggest such a thing. Though he hadn't said it yet she knew what he would soon be asking her to perform in this concert. The last time she had sung was during her final concert a few weeks before Beacon had started.

The last time when she had still been under his thumb.

"We need to show the people of Remnant that we're on their side. That we're willing to stand up to threats such as the White Fang and the Grimm King. We need their trust back if this company is going to survive the next few years, and to show them all that we are _all_ victims of the fall of Vale."

"That's…" A lie. Terrible. Manipulative. Horrible. The list went on and on and Weiss knew her father saw the brief flash of her anger that appeared before she could hide it. "Wonderful news." The words tasted bitter on her tongue and left a bad aftertaste.

"Good. It will make many people happy to know that you'll be performing."

"Excuse me?" Though she had known it was coming Weiss still held onto to hope that he wouldn't have asked. "Many forget that you, my own flesh and blood, were there at the fall. A Schnee, down on the ground defending another kingdom. What better way to win back the other kingdom's trust than with someone who was there?"

Bile rose up in her throat at the mere thought of being his pawn again, and everything in her mind and heart was telling her to deny him her voice. Yet she asked him anyways.

"Are you asking me if I'd like to sing, or telling me?"

"What do you think the people of New Vale would want?" That had her thinking alright.

"The people of New Vale?" He nodded confirming that she had heard him clearly. A chance to see her team again? She had been forbidden from contacting anyone from Beacon once her father had dragged her home, and this would be the first time in months that she would get to see anyone again!

While she kept herself calm Weiss couldn't help but jump at the opportunity, but she caught herself before she could. "Will the concert actually be happening in New Vale?" If it were anything but then she would refuse.

Weiss Schnee was no longer her father's pawn.

"But of course. Right now the people of Vale are at their weakest, and what better way to forge a fresh new bond of trust than striking the heart of the problem?" That sounded less endearing than how it probably did in his head, but Weiss ignored the fact as she would finally have a chance to be with her friends again, with her team.

' _They can break me out of this cage. I just need to get in contact with them once I reach New Vale.'_ Still keeping her excitement well hidden Weiss said, "I'll begin practicing again."

"Good. I look forward to hearing your lovely voice once more Weiss." With that she was dismissed from his office and off to her rooms. Klein had tried to get her attention, but she was too focused on preparing herself to stop.

Locked away in her rooms once more Weiss did not begin to practice her singing, but continued her training instead.

…

Nevermore swirled atop the tower of Salem in droves as the shattered moon looked down onto the Grimmlands like a pale eye. The maroon sky only further brightened it as if it were a beacon in the night.

Salem's fortress stood like a tall shadow. Casting its darkness across the land as Grimm flocked towards it like a bee to honey.

Within a meeting was currently being held by the true monarch of all that was Grimm and her devote followers. "They were found earlier this morning just on the outskirts of your territory." Watts bowed his head under his mistress' gaze as her crimson eyes glowed with a silent fury.

"I rule all the Grimmlands and I will continue to do so for as long as I draw breath. That thing that calls itself king is only occupying my lands temporarily." There was emphasis there as the only reason she didn't wipe that stain off her lands yet was the strange power he possessed.

Turning her own Grimm against her, and worst, he could control them.

It was otherworldly.

Attacking in any force would most likely only result in losses on both sides, but she would ultimately come out the loser in that battle. The Ashen Lord would just capture more of her Grimm and turn them on her.

His forces would only strengthen while hers grew weaker.

"Show them to me Watts."

The doctor didn't bat an eye, as did no one else when he brought up the dual severed heads of Cinder's underlings Emerald and Mercury. Tyrion even let out a whooping cackle before falling silent when Salem eyed him. "From the bruises and fractured skulls I can only guess that they had been beaten and possibly interrogated before being executed."

"Not to mention that they had been impaled on pikes when they were found." Hazel pointed out as he broke his usual silent demeanor.

"Was there anything else near them when you found them? What of their bodies?" Curious more than caring as the two were just tools for Cinder to use, and in turn for her use as well.

"No bodies, but those could have been eaten up by the Grimm that were there when I arrived. There was something else however." Hazel crossed his arms before thinking back onto what he had seen. "Oohhh how I wish I could have seen the looks on their cute little faces when they were executed! A tragic really."

"Quiet you psychotic faunus." Watts commanded as Tyrion drew a knife with a bright smile on his face. "Make me."

"Silence." Her command was absolute and both men knew better than to disobey her.

"Yes mistress." Both said in union as Tyrion lowered the knife, but kept eyeing Watts with the usual mad glint in his eyes.

"What did you find?" Salem looked at Hazel expecting a good reason to continue to use up her time. Nodding he went into what he had found at the piked heads of the two criminals.

"A single man stood near where I had found them. He was too far for me to pursue, but just close enough that I could see what he looked like." Looking out towards the Grimmlands outside Hazel went on. "At first I thought him a man, but I was wrong. Upon closer inspection I saw that its armor was covered in ash. So much that I thought it was entirely made of the stuff."

"I was proven right a second later when it completely broke down into an ash cloud and was taken away by the wind." Salem remained silent as she sensed that there was something else to what Hazel had seen.

"Just before it completely vanished I took note of the visor. It glowed with black and orange fire. Whatever powers this man possesses I fear that they may rival the Maiden's, maybe even…" Salem already knew what he was going to suggest without having seen Hazel look at her.

"It's quite possible that the Ashen Lord holds powers equal to my own, and now it is in possession of the Fall Maiden's soul. Not even to mention that it had managed to kill dear Cinder."

Silence filled her meeting room as the three of them looked to her for her next orders.

"The Ashen Lord poses a great threat to my plans for Remnant, but since it has managed to establish a strong foothold into _my_ lands we'll need to treat this with delicacy. I will need time to think on this, and for now the three of you will continue to monitor the kingdoms that you have been assigned."

Turning to Tyrion she said, "I'm sending you to the remnants of Vale to seek out the next Spring Maiden. She'll be surrounded by hunters so you will need to seek her out when she is alone. Do not fail me like Cinder had Tyrion." The crazed fool's smile only grew as he readily nodded his head.

"Of course, of course my goddess. I will succeed where the witch had failed you!"

"Watts, your spies reported seeing the Summer Maiden last in Mistral. That was two weeks ago so I doubt that she has gotten far, but make sure to track her down so she can't escape."

He nodded in understanding. "It will be done my mistress."

"And Hazel your mission remains the same. Report any more spottings of the Ashen Lord's forces whether that is in the Grimmlands or in your assigned kingdoms. Do you all understand?" Each of them nodded and once she saw that only then did she smile.

"Once we claim the rest of the Maiden's powers the one it holds will be able to do nothing to stop us from taking it back. We'll crush its armies for good and remove the stain that it has made on my home." As they all departed Salem stood looking out into her lands.

' _You're not of this world are you?'_ No such power has existed on this world for as long as she has been alive, and that was saying something. Age was irrelevant to her, but still…

At first she had thought it of a very rare Semblance, but something so sudden and powerful wouldn't have shown up without her knowing. No, this power was far beyond humanity's power. Maybe even more powerful than her own indeed, and she was no fool to underestimate the Ashen Lord.

"In my entire life I have never seen anything like you before Abell, and I look forward to tearing you apart to see what you're truly made of."

* * *

 **The next few chapter we'll be seeing what each RWBY member is up to, but with smaller twists that'll be leading them back to Vale sooner than in the show. Personally, Volume 4 just had them all going around doing their own thing without the plot actually moving forward all that much. I don't want to drag it out too long like RT did, but just a heads up really for everyone.**

 **Hope all of you are enjoying your summer out there, and as a heads up I'll be finishing "Shell of a Soul" before the next chapter of this story gets out. Also, another side story I've been working on is underway. It'll be a long one-shot story revolving around Destiny's Rise of Iron dlc, and should be out before D2 launches.**

 **Talk to you all in the next chapter!**


	29. Chapter 29

**College. Work. Internship. That's all I'm going to say here.**

* * *

 _ **A Dance of Light and Dark**_

Soft wind played with her hair as it traveled through the markets, while the sun stood strong high above. It wasn't unbearably hot today as Blake and Sun walked through the vast market streets of Menagerie.

Her home's weather was always beautiful, and one of the few things that she actually enjoyed about this place. While her family lived here as well, both her mother and father were one of the reasons that Blake had been nervous about returning here in the first place.

When she looked throughout the markets and streets there were only Faunus, and that was the other thing that bothered her.

After the Great War humanity tried corralling all Faunus here onto this single island, and mankind said that it was their "reward." All Faunus saw that as a slap to the face, and some took up arms to gain actual equality.

Thus the Faunus Rights Revolution went into effect, and it would later become the White Fang that Blake had once been a part of. A more comforting thought came to her then when she and Sun had recently uncovered the Fang's current state.

When Adam had been killed during the Fall of Beacon the White Fang had lost one of its most powerful fighters. It felt like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders when she had caught wind of Adam's death, but some small part of her still felt guilty for abandoning him.

Maybe if she'd had stayed, had _tried_ , to convince him she could have prevented all of this disaster.

The entire Vale cell had spiraled out of control without its leader, and they became easy pickings for the Grimm King's armies. A deeper frown came to her when she thought of how many had died at the hands of that monster's hands.

One could say that the Grimm King helped in getting rid of the White Fang, but this was not how Blake would have wanted things to have gone. So many Faunus lives lost, and she couldn't even think of how bad things must be in New Vale.

Not to mention that it was her own father that said such a thing in the first place!

" _Both are plagues upon this earth, so let them take one another out."_ The words echoed in her head as she had to get out of her house. Sun had tagged along, as always, and right now Blake was trying to… to… what was she even doing back here?

She was unsure of where her father stood, and her mother was acting neutral it seemed. The Fang have gone into hiding to most likely regroup, or hiding from the Grimm King as the rumors say. Sun only came along for two reasons: to support her, and to protect her despite her not needing his help or protection.

A flash of an empty classroom where she and Yang stood where her partner tried getting her out of her obsession over finding out what the White Fang had been up to at the time. Blake curled up her fist as, deep down, she felt the real reason as to why she had come here.

She was afraid to face her team after what had happened to them.

Instead of being there for them when they most needed her she had instead ran away to home for the comfort of her family, but all she did was abandon the one she already had. Ruby was still in a coma for all she knew, Weiss had been taken away to Atlas by her father, and Yang… she didn't even know what her partner would say to her if they were to meet again.

A hand rested itself on her shoulder, and she didn't need to look to know that it was Sun. Nodding that she was alright they continued their walk throughout the streets of Menagerie as Blake kept trying to avoid her past mistakes.

High above along the cobblestone roofs stood a figure silently watching over the two unsuspecting Faunus. She wore a White Fang mask to cover up her true identity, and to instill fear in the hearts of those that perceived all Faunus as monsters.

Then again, the Fang have been dealt a huge blow thanks to the unfortunate death of Adam Taurus. Sienna wasn't pleased with the news it seemed, if how Corsac and Fennec both acted around the subject whenever it was brought up in any discussions.

Corsac would grow nervous and clamp up while Fennec grew angry, but whether that was because they actually cared for Taurus, or what Sienna would do to them if they spoke about it she would never know. Sighing to herself, Ilia ceased to bother following Blake and her friend as the two didn't seem to be meddling with the Fang as Corsac had feared.

"You shouldn't have come back…" With that said Ilia shifted her skin tone to match the roofs she had been jumping across and disappeared with the wind.

…

 _Look. Breath. Strike!_

The mantra had been her go to during her training sessions as the three words always helped her keep focus.

Yang's left arm struck hard, and her father's grunt told her that, while not at full strength, she could still hit hard with her regular arm. Out of the many things that she didn't think would affect her after losing her arm, imbalance wasn't one of them.

Plus, taking that short breath allowed her to keep her balance while she had adapted to having her new prosthetic.

She was still getting used to the foreign weight of the prosthetic limb, and while whoever made it did so with the intention of it being lighter to use metal was still metal.

It felt good though.

The weight gave her… other arm a chance to still stay strong and not wither away like she had been these last few months…

"Focus Yang!" Her eyes snapped up in time to receive an open palm strike from Taiyang that pushed her back a few feet. Bringing her arms down Yang berated herself at getting lost in her depression. Again.

"Are you okay?" Concern laced her father's voice, and Yang was thankful that it wasn't the fearful concern that everyone treated her with once she had been told what had happed after Vale fell. Her father had been one, if the not the biggest source of that sickening concern at one point.

While she loved him, he had treated her as though she had been made of glass. Taking the term of overprotective to a whole new level with his constant hovering and asking if she was alright had made Yang push him away for some time.

It had taken a serious talk from Uncle Qrow to get him to back down, and since then Taiyang had let up for the most part. "It's going to take more than an old man slapping me around a bit to break me." Some of her previous confidence had returned to her through the time they spent together training.

Getting used to her new limb still wasn't easy, but she was making progress nonetheless. Then soon she would be back with Ruby in New Vale to help her sister get team RWBY back together so they could take their revenge on the bastards that had taken their lives away from them.

"Old…?" Any sense of concern left Taiyang's eyes as a smile that left Yang feeling nervous spread across her father's face. Yang gulped as she prepared to defend herself from the beating Taiyang gave those who called him old.

She matched his smile with the fire that burned in her eyes as more of her confidence and strength came back to her. Yang-Xiao Long would continue to get stronger, and when she was ready she would avenge not only everyone that the Grimm King had killed, but herself as well.

For when she found the bastard that stole her only chance at revenge by taking down Taurus, she would have to make due by beating them into the dirt and then some.

The blows her father unleashed on her had Yang going on the defensive, and once the opportunity presented itself she struck.

 _Look. Breathe. Strike!_

…

Within New Vale's city hall the council was having an emergency meeting as everyone present tried to speak over one another. More of a contest of who could raise their voice higher than the other than an actual meeting Ozpin sighed to himself as his patience for the council was already wearing thin.

"They've already destroyed half the city with their reckless abandon! We need to designate an area outside of New Vale where all Hunters and Huntresses can be kept so that they won't be interfering with the civilian populace as much!" Councilor Rick Benedict barked out over his fellow councilmen.

"That is an overstatement Benedict and you know it!" Councilor Jessica Teal fired back. "Besides being our main source of protection from any attack, as well as our best means for trading with the remaining frontier settlements, Huntsmen have done nothing wrong." For the past two weeks now the hidden resentment for Hunters by civilians began to show itself.

Being cooped up within the confined area had done little to help, as well as Hunters only being permitted to leave the city's walls for the time being made most of the civilians feel as though they were in a prison rather than a safe haven.

The last few days had been mostly quiet though as most of the Hunters were out on missions right now for New Vale. Ozpin didn't like having his forces spread so thin, but most of the other settlements had been rather sympathetic towards Vale and had been sending over supplies in droves.

While thankful, it still left him displeased that the large shipments had required so many Hunters to escort them. Lest they be ransacked by Grimm or the Grimm King's forces, or both.

"How can you deny the property damage they've caused Teal?" Councilor Royce asked of her as he stared at her in disbelief. "While I agree that Benedict is indeed overreacting to the situation," Benedict leveled a glare to Royce for not supporting him. "We cannot ignore the fights that break out either between Hunters or _them_ and civilians."

The word was filled with veiled venom, but Ozpin didn't acknowledge it. "Thankfully there have been no injuries when civilians are involved, but some of the fights that _have_ broken out are not helping our situation here."

While the councilors continued to bark at one another Ozpin had been silently waiting for them to ask for his input. The situation had required his attention, but he refused to partake in this useless bickering as it wasn't allowing them to progress at all.

"Why don't we address the only Hunter in this room then?" Teal said with icy bitterness towards Benedict and Royce. The three, along with the other councilmen, all turned to look at Ozpin as he put up a smile at them all before speaking.

"Civilians and Hunters never did mix well with one another, and I don't see that changing anytime soon." Silence was what greeted him as they all waited for him to continue. "Sending Hunters off to another place to live would only further complicate things as we'd need to waste supplies to even begin building a new living space. Not to mention the travel time between each residence would cut the number of lives we would be able to save when an attack does arrive."

Silence still, but this time there was a fear amongst them as he hadn't said if, but whenan attack would come.

"I don't expect those occupying our home and my school to stay their hand forever. They wanted to wipe Vale off the face of Remnant the night Beacon fell, and they nearly succeeded too." An uneasy dread began to seep into all of their stomachs at the truth of how close indeed the Grimm King came to wiping them out.

"But they didn't." Teal whispered.

"No they failed to take us out, and I almost wished they had with how divided we have become." Looking to each of them at a time, with a few looking away either in shame or guilt he went on. "The only way we're going to take our home back is by showing a united front, both civilian and Hunter. And the only way we're going to do that is by making a combined effort to take back Vale now."

The news seemed to shock them all as both surprised looks and quiet gasps were heard throughout the hall.

"You expect civilians to go out into that dangerous territory? Without Aura?" Benedict questioned him with disbelief as some of the others nodded their agreement.

"Without proper training or years of experience with Aura I'm afraid that unlocking it for everyone would do more harm than good. Of course I don't expect anyone without Aura to head into enemy territory without a means to protect themselves." Again they were all silent as they waited for what Ozpin had to say.

"Using the scavenged materials that our scouts have managed to gather and from the supplies that the frontier settlements traded to us I believe that we will have enough to arm and protect all that wish to volunteer for this mission."

"Volunteer?" Teal repeated as some relief seemed to flow through her. "Yes. I wouldn't force any civilian on this mission unless they agreed to go." His words were a bit gentler as he knew the woman had two young sons that she feared he would force into going.

"Metal and leather armor would only get them so far Ozpin. Any Grimm would tear right through that while the Grimm King's men are equipped in full body plate. Not to mention they have much better crafted arms than anything that we would be able to forge at the moment."

"There are still many guns left over that, last time I checked, are just sitting in a vault in case of an emergency." Benedict wrinkled his mustache at that, but came back with, "And how badly is this situation Ozpin? We both know that those guns are locked up to keep people from rebelling and harming others."

"I think I'll let my head scout inform you on just, exactly, how bad our situation is about to become councilor." It was then that Qrow walked out of the shadows of a darker part of the room, and whether they knew of his presence or not didn't keep most of the councilors from looking uncomfortable.

Taking a swig of his flask, Qrow enjoyed how it burned down his throat as he didn't like any of these political types. Before or after Vale had been taken over by the Grimm King's forces, and he certainly wasn't about to warm up to them now even with fresh alcohol running through him.

Taking an unnecessary sigh Qrow began, "After a few scouting missions into Vale we've seen an increase of activity. Both in Grimm and the King's own forces, but more on the latter." He'd seen a few more of those portals, but they were a lot bigger, and seeing the amount of troops that poured out of them only made their situation worse.

"I'm not going to say numbers, but as it stands right now we need to make a full on attack on the City and possibly even Beacon if we're going to see another day." Fear had definitely settled in now as they all began whispering amongst themselves at the reports.

"So as you can all understand," Ozpin called back their attention to not lose them. "If we do not attack now then we allow the enemy to gain a major foothold by conquering Vale. Not only would they have access to what technology remains in the city, but they will become nearly impossible to root out with the forces that we have now."

"By taking the city back not only do we gain ground, but we will rally more to our cause to take down the Grimm King once and for all." Even Ozpin doubted his words as things were not looking good for not only them, but the other kingdoms as well.

If Abell were to gain a foothold and have a whole kingdom to rule from, then they may just be plunged into another Great War. Not to mention wherever he commanded his armies in the Grimmlands would prove difficult to locate and assault.

"Figures that it'd be only up to us to take back our home without any help. After all it was Atlas' robots that helped in the attack so we know they're not going to help." Benedict grunted out as he stood up before saying, "I'll send the word out for volunteers for training. Even with the little time we have left they'll need as much training as possible to help." Ozpin only nodded as the other councilors stood up and began to state the preparations that they would start for the upcoming siege.

"I guess we need to start calling everyone back then if we're actually going to do this Oz." Qrow didn't smile, and neither did Ozpin as the two knew that many people were going to die on this mission, both civilian and Hunter.

Calling all of their available Hunters would take them five days at least as many were out getting supplies for New Vale, so they had that small blessing since it gave them time to train the civilians. Every day he felt older as even he knew that this mission would most likely be a suicidal one.

Maybe if they had the help of the other kingdoms, but James hadn't sent word ever since Vale fell. The other headmasters didn't reach out to him either, and when he tried contacting them himself they hadn't answered. He couldn't worry about them right now as what mattered the most right now was taking Vale back, and in turn Beacon.

Without the Maiden of Fall in their possession their best next course of action was to take Vale to have their walls back. While protecting New Vale against the Grimm hadn't been difficult per say, not having their natural protections along with the walls made life hard.

All thoughts disappeared from his mind as the alarm bells began to ring from outside city hall. Both rushed outside where some of the councilmen still lingered. Qrow didn't waste a moment as he pulled someone running by and asked them what the alarm was sounding for.

"The Grimm King's forces march on us from the East!"

"How close are they?" His tone was deadly serious as the civilian began to shake in fear, but whether it was due to Qrow or the approaching army Ozpin wasn't sure. Low, distant *thumps* were heard as the high whistle of nearly a hundred arrows could be heard coming for them.

They both immediately got out of the way with Qrow dragging the civilian out of the way as arrows alit with flame covered the vast majority of the area next to city hall. Flames began to spark up, and Ozpin ordered the civilian to find water and others to help take out any fires that started to get too big. The man ran off while keeping his head covered incase another volley came by.

With only half of the Hunters that were normally here out on their own missions at the time Ozpin knew that their chances of survival were slight at best. "Get me an estimate on those forces Qrow." Both looked to the watchtower that stood high up above the city towards the northern part of New Vale.

Silently nodding Qrow ran off without another word as Ozpin went off to organize and protect as many civilians as he could. More whistling could be heard cutting through the air as another volley of arrows had been loosed. A mother and her children were caught in the middle of the street trying to get to a nearby building as he could spot the flames dancing in the air like fireflies.

Rushing to them Ozpin deployed his shield around them as the arrows hit. The impact was minimal, but then again it seemed that these men were just aiming all over the place.

"Go and hide. Now." The woman nodded her thanks and rushed her two children off to the building they had been trying to get to earlier. Their enemy couldn't have picked a better time to attack, and Ozpin couldn't help but feel that he knew what had allowed Abell the advantage.

People became fast blurs as he ran at full speed towards the New Vale police department, but it was too late. Before he could take another step towards it the building erupted into black flames that began to engulf it entirely like a hungry Beowolf.

Atop the now burning tower of black flames formed an eye. A massive ball of black and white fire that soon opened as the white iris slowly slid down from on top.

This one was much smaller than the other that had appeared over Amity, but regardless of its size it still meant that everyone was in danger at the moment. People ran by him in a panic as Abell's eye surveyed the area, slowly studying everything before it slowly made its way to Ozpin.

It flashed dangerously and whether it was recognition, fear, or something else he didn't know. Amongst the panicking citizens Ozpin slammed his cane down onto the ground summoning a shield as a rain of black fire _slammed_ into them.

There were limits to his semblance as he could only cover so far. He didn't dare look at the ashes that lay outside his shield as he shouted over all the screaming, "Everyone get to the shelters! Help anyone you come across!" The eye flashed again, preparing for yet another storm.

"RUN NOW!"

His shield came up a second time, and the tax it had cost on his aura for such a large shield made him grunt. It was all he could do as the citizens ran before hellfire rained down upon them once more.

…

Wine as red as blood swirled within the goblet that Rinaldor held in hand while sitting in Grandahl's office. It was one of the many delicacies that Remnant and Lordran had in common.

It still made him wonder in awe at how similar each world was to one another as they were different.

Grandahl's office was silent for the most part, but that was only really due to the old hexer waiting for his response to their argument that they were currently in.

"How can you sit there without a care in the world?" Rinaldor did not yield anything as he continued to swirl his wine in the goblet. He started to become lost in the near-hypnotic affect as the torchlight reflected off the ruby colored drink.

"The first fresh battalion of soldiers that we've received within the last few months and you decide to squander them on some petty show of power?!" The man's voice rose in anger, and even he knew when to not test Grandahl's temper.

Releasing a measured sigh Rinaldor went on to say, "Need I remind you Grandahl that those men have been coming into Vale through these last few months." While Abell could most likely have conjured a much larger portal to bring all of them in at once, it would be all too draining on their Lord for the time being.

A weakness that he wouldn't soon forget.

Abell was currently preoccupied with his next target: the third of the four Sisters that carried great Souls of power that would help him in his final endeavor. Unfortunately for him, both only Sir Alonne and Sir Aulnor were privy to that information.

"We've a few thousand foot soldiers stationed here now as is. And with them slowly being spread out across the kingdom with more on the way I thought why not show that pitiful resistance what will be coming for them." Leaning back in his seat Rinaldor took a moment to look around Grandahl's new office.

It seemed that the old hexer had taking a liking to the dark as only two torches were lit within, casting a low orange glow across them. From what he'd heard this had been the previous Headmaster's office before they had taken the school. He'd assumed that was why Grandahl had claimed it for himself when their Lord had appointed the old crank head of the school he supposed.

High enough where no one could bother him while giving him a view of all that he controlled.

"Once my control over the entire kingdom is secured _then_ I would consider mounting an assault to wipe those hopeful fools off of my doorstep." While that may be true Rinaldor had his own agenda contrary to the current Headmaster.

"Did you know, Grandahl, of the two priestesses that had been captured?" This caught the man's attention faster than a mimic could take hold of you. "I was not informed of this. Why?" Both a question and order.

"While you were busy with building up your seat of power I had had been tasked with covering the countryside to find more vessels and Grimm. One of those forces that had been sent out had encountered resistance. More than what had been expected of the villages out in the wild than I had anticipated."

A mocking smirk made its way onto Grandahl's mouth, but his silence told Rinaldor to continue. "While the Grimm had been secured and delivered to Hedrikon to be turned, all sprites had been accounted for save for two."

"I assume that therein lay the two priestesses? Is that why you've ordered this attack dear Father? To get two useless wenches back into your hands?" A mockery of his faith to some extent, but one closer to his own seat of power not only within their presence here in Vale and Abell's army as a whole.

"Think me a whore Grandahl to your heart's content, but no, that is not the reason why I mounted this attack." No. He wanted to show the people of New Vale what was coming sure, but not to scare them into fear.

Quite the opposite in fact, as he expected this attack to not leave them broken, but to make them stronger for it. Strong enough to fight and take their home back. To perhaps maybe even… he didn't dare hope for too much.

It was a stroke of luck that whoever had taken out the band of soldiers out in that village had taken in the priestesses alive. Their sprites and souls had been the fuel that started this whole attack in the first place.

Just to have an army marching at their gates and the two sides fighting it out wouldn't be enough for them to _learn_ anything. No, the two priestesses had been sacrificed to show them one of the chinks in Abell's armor.

Hell, even he didn't understand much, but from what he'd gathered it had to be enough to show these people.

To give them a chance.

"Then do please indulge me dear Father." He would keep lying, and eluding Abell's gaze as whatever had come back with the Dark Soul of man in tow was not the dear Lord that he had once known. He'd know the day he'd come back with Sir Tyrell's corpse and had told him to bury his brother in arms within the crypts.

Without anyone's knowing he'd examined the body, and the tiny flakes of ash hidden in each would told him enough.

No, that _thing_ wearing Abell's skin had something dark planned for this world, and it was only through this mask that allowed Rinaldor to fight against that creature however he could.

"I only wish to see Lord Abell's plans come to fruition, and for him to finally give us the future that the gods had taken away from us. This attack will not break them, but it will leave their spirits low enough for that when we do march it will be as easy as killing a sewer rat."

"Rats are awfully common these days." Rinaldor's face revealed nothing as the mask covered it, but it had been a force of sheer will not to make any type of reaction.

One slip up, a simple mistake on his end, and his soul would be damned.

"That's funny, give a slave a taste for power and suddenly they think they can conquer the world." The goblet shattered in his hand, but his gloved hand prevented most of the shards from imbedding themselves into his skin.

"Watch your tone _boy_." Rinaldor went silent since he knew that he just crossed a line without knowing it. "You forget who runs this school now, and you would be wise to remember that you can easily be replaced."

"Is that true though _Headmaster_? For the last time I checked both teachings of miracles and sorceries was needed to learn the art of hexing." Grandahl would have said something but held his tongue, and instead leaned back simmering in his chair as his white eyes, still alit with light, burned.

"To be rid of the current head of the Way of White would look awfully suspicious would it not? While a replacement could be found, you wouldn't find one fast enough before someone noticed to report to Sir Alonne or Sir Aulnor. Maybe even Hedrikon itself…"

Grandahl blinked at that and in that instant the anger disappeared, or at least well hidden.

' _Good dog.'_

…

Ruby Rose nearly tripped as she ran.

A building that had once been a bakery erupted into rubble as one of the massive golems that had assaulted Beacon smashed it to bits. She didn't stop to fight it though as Crescent Rose cut through three more soldiers with quick succession.

The sound of weapons being fired and unsheathed could be heard behind her as Hunters stopped to take on the golem. That didn't stop her though as she ran to find Jaune, Ren, and Nora.

They were all too spread out at the moment as what must have been foot soldiers of Abell's armies were littered throughout New Vale. Emergency protocols had been to evacuate the civilians out first to the shelters, and she stopped everywhere she could to help out anyone that was in need of it.

Those that could or wanted to fight had been allowed to since most of the Hunters had been out on their own missions to gather more supplies.

The Northern gates had to be yielded to the enemy despite the reports of the small army heading their way ahead of time. It was mainly due to whatever was shooting black flames out across the area from what was once the police station, and Ruby knew exactly who was most likely to blame for _that_.

The two women in white that had been held prisoner had to be the ones to of summoned that terrible black eye. Just as Cardin had when he had sacrificed himself back in Amity to summon the same eye that had changed everything.

It was Beacon all over again as the enemy had attacked from within first to weaken them, before the main force came by to clean up whatever was left. Gritting her teeth a little Ruby was a red blur before her enemies as her scythe cut them down before they could even turn around.

These soldiers were a lot weaker than what she had faced back during Beacon's fall, but that didn't mean they were complete pushovers either. While her speed gave her a great advantage over them she had witnessed the civilians who stayed to fight seem to struggle with them.

It hadn't occurred to her until she saw some holding out torches as to what these men were meant to do as another house burst into flames.

The arrows had only been the beginning as some roofs had caught alight already, and these men bearing torches began to throw them into homes and stores further spreading the flames.

Before one particular soldier could throw his torch he soon found himself without an arm as Ruby moved past, but no cries of pain could be heard. For only a second she looked back and saw past the open faced helmet, to a face that had been hollowed out and devoid of life as two bleary white eyes gazed upon the stub of its arm.

' _No time to think on that.'_ It was all she thought of as she continued to try and find her friends. Thankfully Nora wasn't difficult to find since pink explosions weren't really all that inconspicuous, and Ren wouldn't be that far either from his partner.

She soon found Ren cutting down soldiers left and right to protect a small group of civilians trying to get a piece of rubble off of someone trapped beneath. Nora's pink explosions shot up into the air about a block or two away along with a whoop of joy. "Where's Jaune?"

Ripping his weapons free from the back of another soldier, with black blood running down the thin curved blades, he looked Ruby in the eye. "He's up by the south gate trying to hold it."

"By himself?! Why aren't you two with him?" There was a bit more bite to that than she had meant, but Ren seemed to understand as the look in his eyes said he wanted to be with his leader as well.

"Believe me Ruby, Nora and I wanted to stay, but he'd ordered us to help the civilians and to find you. We were making our way to the market when we found these civilians." A quick look to the people in question had him heading over to lend his strength once he saw that no more enemies were present.

For the moment at the very least. "He wasn't alone though."

That eased some of the tension in her, but not much.

"He was rallying the other civilians, who stayed to fight, and it was only then that Nora and I left him to it." The steel in his eyes told her that they wouldn't have left Jaune otherwise despite his orders.

"I'm going to help him."

Nodding his understanding Ren spoke, "Nora and I will catch up with you once we make sure these people get safely to a shelter." They nodded to one another once more before she rushed off to help Jaune as everything continued to fall apart.

The fires were really beginning to spread now as the heat and size of them grew with each passing moment, but she couldn't concern herself with that right now. She didn't run into any civilians in need of aid on her way to the southern gate, but whether that was something to be thankful for was yet to be seen as her legs kept moving.

It didn't bode well as she had to cut through small patrols of soldiers while she made her way to Jaune. The fact that there were soldiers this close in this area either meant they had found their way here across from the northern area or Jaune had fallen.

She prayed to the gods that it wasn't the latter.

Some hope filled her as the soldiers began to thin out considerably, but it didn't put her mind at ease yet until she broke through an alley that provided a shortcut. The entire southern plaza was a frenzied melee as civilians and soldiers fought one another.

Dead on either side were beginning to pile up, and Ruby could see past it all to where the wall had been breached. Some type of explosives had left a black scar along the wooden gates where splinters of wood spread out inwards. Soldiers continued to pour in from the hole in the wall, but it must have been some small miracle that it hadn't been big enough for more than two soldiers to fit through at a time.

And it was there, in the middle of the battlefield that she spied Jaune in the thick of it all. The hollowed out soldiers fell by his hand one by one as his modified Crocea Mors was wielded like a greatsword that cut down any who came at him. He couldn't cover all though as two soldiers crept up behind him prepared to attack, and she was about to scream out a warning to her friend.

It wasn't necessary though as a man wielding a smith's hammer bashed both heads of the soldiers in. Jaune took notice of it, and his only form of thanks was a tight nod as he continued to move on to the next fray of soldiers.

She was a little speechless if she was being honest at the display, but now wasn't the time to gawk though as Ruby sprinted into that fray herself.

Three more soldiers lay dead before they had time to even register her, and more continued to fall as Ruby cut her way towards Jaune. It felt odd to her as the black blood sprayed onto her that she didn't cringe as much as she would have before.

Here she was, Ruby Rose, the youngest huntress to be accepted into Beacon Academy at only fifteen and she was already cutting through lines of soldiers like it was nothing.

Up close she got to see how truly different these men were.

Skin sagged against bone and was dried out enough to turn a disgusting pinkish red color. Their faces weren't much better as lips had thinned out enough to leave their rotting teeth exposed while their eyes were gone and replaced with just glowing white flames.

They just reminded her too much of the zombies from her video games and the comics she'd read. Maybe that was made it easier for her to stomach cutting them apart as a head went rolling down by her feet as she grew closer and closer to Jaune.

At least she kept telling herself that.

Perhaps he took notice of her as well since he was also making his way towards her, and any caught in between soon met their end.

"Ruby! What are you doing here?"

"Trying to help you… you… numbskull!" She had never been as good at name calling as Yang, or Weiss, had been. During then she cut the arm off of soldier who was about to impale a young woman who had been knocked down before slicing open it's back.

"I've been doing just… FINE!" The last word had been shouted as he took a moment to lunge forwards before launching a soldier into the air with his sword. Two swords hit him during the action, but his armor and Aura did its job as he only grunted in pain.

"Well you shouldn't have sent Ren and Nora away and stayed by yourself. They need their team leader Jaune!" The fighting never seemed to end as more and more waves of the soldiers poured into the hole. "I only did that so they could help where the other huntsmen couldn't! Now really isn't the time for this talk Ruby."

He was right of course, and while she wanted to continue arguing she felt that distracting themselves while surrounded by enemies would lead to one of them getting injured or worse.

It was then that someone shouted from atop the wall before the world ignited.

…

"This whole ordeal with them is not only to test their strength against us, but it will also be to help myself gauge how easy or difficult it will be to wipe them out." Grandahl sat behind the desk, eyes still simmering with cold hatred.

Plucking one of the candles away from Grandahl's desk Rinaldor held it up to the headmaster saying, "Take this flame to be the resistance of New Vale, and I as the whole of Abell's power."

Grandahl grunted at that, but otherwise said nothing else.

Slightly blowing on the candle from beneath his mask the small light began to whisk around in all directions as he slowly applied more force. Finishing his breath and drawing another he said, "You see how badly that flame flickered against me? If their flame cannot withstand even a small gust of wind, then how will they ever hope to weather the coming storm as Abell takes over this world?"

A quick, harsh blow of breath sent the tiny flame winking out of existence.

…

Ringing buzzed in her head as Ruby struggled against the dizziness to stand up. A few feet away from her Jaune lay on the ground, but when he brought a hand to his head in pain did she sigh in relief.

Alive.

They were alive and- a scream penetrated the air and it had brought Ruby back into the fray. Black smoke billowed into the area like an unwanted fog as fires caked the area and… lava?

Maybe it had been the fighting getting to her, but some of the ground she could have sworn was smoldering. Looking around she saw that many had been caught in the explosion, and to her surprise it was mostly the soldiers that now lay dead on the ground rather than civilians.

Getting over her nausea Ruby made to stand, but as she made the movement pain rocketed up through her entire left leg. Immediately she fell back down, and looking at her leg a small whimper escaped her.

There, protruding out and through her thigh was what must have been a fragment of a sword. Only a portion of the blade was there, but it was enough to penetrate through her thigh and out of her kneecap. Both blood and bone were shifting at slightly awkward angles as the blade made its new home in her, and each movement caused more blood to leak out.

"Ruby." It was Jaune as she turned to look at him to see that he was staring directly into her eyes. "Keep looking at me Ruby. Don't look at it." She didn't know if he meant her leg, or the soldiers marching into the city. Where were the others? Ren, Nora? Uncle Qrow? Ozpin?

Why were there no other Hunters helping them as everything came crashing down around them?

Out of the corner of her eye she could see civilians being slaughtered left and right, but Jaune only brought her closer until their foreheads were touching. "Just keep your eyes on me Ruby. Everything will be okay." His voice cracked at the last word, but she knew they were only meant to try and comfort her.

"W-why Jaune? Why is no one here?" What had they done to these people to be attacked like this? Was there something that she just didn't know? All the kingdoms were at peace weren't they?

Atlas and Vale were at odds right now, but even they still helped one another. So why these people then?

" _Our village is dying…"_ The words of their deceased assistant teacher, and to an extent, friend had once told them all. _"Our village is dying, but not from the Grimm. Rather it seems that mother nature has turned her back on us."_

Their land had been dying and they couldn't live off it for much longer.

" _The land that we have lived off of for so long has died from countless battles, and now it is impossible to grow food and retrieve water. And to make matters worse, a famine has settled itself onto our village."_

The words continued to echo and yell at her as the answer became clearer and clearer.

" _I was sent here by my Lord to seek aid from the closest kingdom to our village, which happened to be Vale. My Lord has tasked me to see if I can secure our people a new home while he stays there to…_ comfort _the citizens as the remaining food and water slowly runs out."_

Ruby recalled the day when Tyrell's lord had come to Beacon. How he had slaughtered his own in what could only be described as cold blood, and how Tyrell had fallen to the ground before choking on his own blood.

All while Abell literally sucked the life out of the knight.

She felt it was safe for her to assume that was what Tyrell meant when he said Abell was 'comforting' their people. It didn't make sense to her, but now she didn't care as she just wanted them all to go away. She'd faced Grimm, the White Fang, and even faced Abell in battle once, yet she felt so powerless and weak as she couldn't stop all this death around her.

Not back at Beacon with Tyrell's death, not with the countless who fell during Abell's march to overtake Vale, and certainly not now in New Vale with this force invading.

Ruby felt that she was mature for her age, but right now she just wanted to curl underneath the covers and hope the monsters went away. But they wouldn't, and they would continue to kill until someone, someone like her, stopped them.

Ruby hadn't even noticed as Jaune stood up and was facing away from her as he stood guard in front of her. None of the soldiers paid them any mind though. In fact they didn't advance past both her and Jaune as any other surviving civilians dragged those who were injured away until it was only the two of them.

"Jaune…?"

"I don't know Ruby." His guard didn't falter as he continued to survey the dozens of soldiers packed behind one another until enough could stretch down until the next block. Not one of them took a step further towards the two young hunters.

Why did they stop? The sounds of battles off everywhere else could still be heard, so why did this battalion stop here and now?

Heavy footsteps began marching their way towards them as the soldiers unconsciously moved out of the way as someone made their way through. Ruby and Jaune didn't even need to look for the one in question as a black armored figure in the same attire of Abell made their way towards them.

The black knight stood easily two heads above the rest of the soldiers, and would probably do the same to them if they stood side by side. A short dark crimson cape hung over the left shoulder, and stitched onto it was a golden circle enwreathed in flames.

The same crimson cape that Abell's royal guardsmen had worn the day Tyrell had been killed.

A black sword shined in the firelight alongside the shield that was clutched in the knight's other hand as he looked around. Besides the knight a man in brown robes walked a few steps behind the knight. A small hand axe was secured to his side while his face remained hidden behind a heavy hood.

Taking notice of his hands she saw that both were alight with glowing orange flames, but they were small enough to only alight his hands. She knew that she had seen the ground smoldering earlier, and now it made sense that this guy had some sort of fire semblance. He was also probably the one that had caused the explosion that took nearly the entire face of the wall down.

No words were spoken as the knight looked at and over the two with little to no interest before it started marching once more.

Memories of Tyrell surfaced in her mind once more with each pounding step the black knight took towards them. How he had quickly gained their friendship and helped them those few months spent together. Each step was like the strike of a hammer on an anvil as the knight continued towards them.

Jaune braced Crocea Mors as the knight was only a few yards away now. His height was even more frightening up close. Ruby felt that if it weren't for the pillars of smoke slowly blocking out the sunlight then the knight surely would have sufficed in doing so.

Ruby again looked into the eyes of her enemy, but no burning white eyes stared back at her. No, instead _orange_ eyes stared down at them both with no giveaway as to the emotion the knight felt.

Without hesitation Jaune lunged towards him.

The black shield came up faster than Jaune could strike, and the knight shoved back in force. Jaune brought up his own shield in turn as his arm held firm against the force behind the shove.

Without a second to lose the knight thrusted his own sword at Jaune forcing him to yet again tank the hit.

She was about to shout at him to move, and as the knight continued to slash and hack away at Jaune's shield Ruby realized that he couldn't. The soldiers surrounded them almost completely, and it was only behind them that they did not dare cross.

If Jaune moved not only would he leave the rest of the city exposed, but that wasn't what scared her the most. Her first and best friend was willingly taking the brunt of the attack to protect her as best he could. Jaune's grunt brought her back from her frantic thoughts as the knight again slammed his shield into Jaune's own, and to her horror his arm buckled.

Before her friend could recover the black sword came swinging down and forced Jaune to lose his shield. The white shield fell off to the side and left him with only his sword which he clutched in both hands. Not ready to give up Jaune mustered his strength and swung his sword once more.

Steel clashed against steel as the knight parried the swing with his own blade and directed Jaune's straight into the dirt. Before the knight could do anything else however Jaune slammed into him with his shoulder sending the knight back a couple steps.

The black knight echoed the attack, but before Jaune could even have the chance to stumble back the knight grabbed hold of his neck with his shield hand. He couldn't breathe as the knight held him in place, and tired as he might have by kicking at the armored legs it was no use.

" **Pathetic."**

It was the first word whispered from the knight as he threw Jaune to the ground. "Jaune!" Ruby cried out as she tried standing again to help her friend, but her leg prevented her once more from performing such actions. Looking around for Crescent Rose Ruby saw her weapon a few feet away, and when she tried grabbing at it she yelped away in surprise.

The robed man had sent a small fire in warning between her and her weapon as she looked up and saw him shaking his head.

" **How do you expect to defeat him?"** It sounded more like the knight was asking himself than them, but Ruby didn't care as she started to crawl towards Jaune. He tried to stand but the knight didn't hesitate before sheathing his sword and grabbing Jaune once more.

Throwing Jaune to the ground again had both Ruby and Jaune facing one another as she looked up in horror behind him. The knight wasn't gentle as he grabbed Jaune's left arm and twisted it behind his back.

Writhing in pain Jaune yelped in pain as the knight pressed his weight into his back and twisted his arm further. He must have been screaming as the knight broke his arm with just one quick snap.

"Aaaaggh!"

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop IT!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs as she increased her pace despite the blood that was trailing behind her. The pain became somewhat numb as she watched her friend twist in agony.

In a mad attempt Jaune tried to swing Crocea Mors behind him, but it did nothing as the knight dropped his broken arm and went to grab the other.

" **We need strength."** Slowly drawing his sword once more the knight positioned it right over Jaune. "No no no no no no no no no no no no no!" Tears were streaming down her face freely as she desperately clawed her way towards Jaune.

She didn't want to lose another friend.

Ruby wasn't the only one screaming when that sword pierced Jaune's back and out of his chest. All noise seemed to cease as all she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat as it deafened her with each thump.

…

The tiny embers that remained of the flame could just be made out after Rinaldor blew it out. Looking across from him he frowned when he saw the old hexer wearing a small, almost smug, smile on his face.

"What is it?"

"We all had to live through that hell the old gods in Lordran put us through Rinaldor. If not for our Lord's decision we would have continued living in that cesspool of death and rebirth." If there was one thing both men agreed on it was that Abell's extinguishing of the first flame had saved them, even if it lead the world to further decay.

"However through my years I've thought on my own hypothesis about our world, and have recently added this one into my theory." A breath of silence passed between them as Grandahl breathed in the wisps of smoke left from the candle.

"The tricky thing about fire, Rinaldor, is that it always finds a way to come back once we think it extinguished." Not understanding what the hexer meant Rinaldor crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat waiting for an explanation.

"The first flame gave birth to four great souls that would eventually become the three Lord souls and the Dark Soul as the legends says. Gwyn, Nito, and the Witch of Izalith used those to raise armies and wage war against the dragons that ruled. Eventually making way for the age of Fire,"

Rinaldor, as a priest, knew the legends well as nearly all scriptures for miracles were written telling the countless battles and legends of that war. "When Gwyn built his kingdom his power was vast and mighty, but when that power began to fade and the age of Man was slowly rearing its head things began to change."

"As Lordran and the lands around it began to decay and the breakout of the Undead curse began to spread most of the old gods fled Gwyn and his First flame. Even the heavenly daughter Gwynevere had left only to be replaced with an illusion."

When the flame and begun to fade most of the gods abandoned Lordran for other lands after Gwyn had left to link the fire. Only one had remained in Anor Londo, the youngest child of Gwyn. No more records exist of the child save for the knowledge that they were the youngest and had bearings to the moon.

"Only a shell of a once great kingdom remained and the world grew dark again. We lived in that dark world with those remnants until our Lord put out the First flame."

"What are you getting at here Grandahl?"

"My theory was that, just as the old gods had abandoned Lordran, we have committed the same act and left our world to rot. But as I just said, flames can be tricky as even the tiniest of embers can reignite." Gently, Grandahl blew his breath onto the tiny embers that remained.

Slowly, so slowly, a tiny flame that could have been mistaken for another ember began to rise until after a few moments it rose back to its full strength. "I'm still not quite following what you're theory means."

Grandahl made what sounded like a *tch* before asking him, "What if after we left Lordran embers reignited and a new flame was born?" At this Rinaldor set down the candle and carefully asked, "You suspect Abell did not put out the First flame?"

"I believe that he came close to truly putting it out, but yes that is my suspicion. Embers always remain, just as that candle just showed you," His eyes quickly darted to the now bright light that sat between both men, "So I do not find it hard to believe that the same cannot be said about Lordran."

Rinaldor brought a hand up to his chin as he thought on the meaning of Grandahl's hypothesis. "Do you think…?" It seemed that both men were on the same train of thought as Grandahl answered for him, "That a new world, and possibly a new kingdom, rose up from those ashes and now rules Lordran? Yes, but that isn't what has me truly wondering."

The thought alone was staggering enough to think on, but he asked, "What else do you theorize?" He may despise the hexer, but even he had to admit that his curiosity was at its peak right now.

Stroking his long beard in thought Grandahl was silent for a while as the anticipation was starting to get to Rinaldor. Just as he was about to demand the Headmaster speak the old man opened his mouth.

"Though my understanding of the Dark Soul is limited, our Lord managed to be granted such a soul from the father of humanity himself. It was through an object connected to the present that Manus pulled our Lord towards the past, and when he returned with the Dark Soul in tow it was through his connection to his kingdom that he was able to return."

"When he sent Sir Tyrell through a portal it lead to this world, and that I feel is no coincidence."

"But that would have required a connection prior for Tyrell to be sent here."

"Exactly! Tyrell had been the connection that allowed our Lord to lead us to this world, but-"

"What was the first initial connection that had allowed Tyrell to find this world in the first place?" Slowly everything was starting to fall into place, but there were still pieces missing that wouldn't allow them to see the larger picture in full.

"I will need time to think on this further, but for now this information will not leave this room. Our Lord does not need to add this burden to his shoulders right now, so I _entrust_ you not to disclose this to anyone else. Otherwise you may find yourself in a new position at this school."

Rinaldor knew the hexer didn't trust him as much as the old man could walk on his own, and the veiled threat wouldn't be taken lightly.

Standing up to leave Rinaldor bid the Headmaster farewell, and he left the Headmaster's office without another word and began taking the lift down to the ground levels of the school.

However Grandahl had said one last thing before the doors had shut.

While Grandahl's theory was interesting it still remained that: a hypothesis based off of no true evidence. It left more questions than he needed right now, and wouldn't let it plague his mind as he needed to finish sowing the seeds of his plan before he could take another act. Grandahl's final words before he left echoed in his mind though.

' _Regardless of anything, we're still here to make sure mankind has a future unbound from that everlasting dance of dark and light.'_

Looking out towards where he knew battles were no doubt happening right now he whispered aloud, "No future exists for us, but maybe I can give them one."

* * *

 **I'm sorry that it took me this long to get this chapter out, but as I mentioned above those three things have taken a toll on my time/inspiration to write. It doesn't look good for my next semester either as I'll have six classes as well, so I'll write when I can. Thank you all who stayed these last few months, I can't thank you enough for your patience. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, and happy holidays in case I can't get the next one out before Christmas. Talk to you all in the next chapter!**


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